Asagoto ni waga miru yado no nadeshiko no hana ni mo kimi wa arikosenu kamo

朝ごとに我が見る宿のなでしこの
花にも君はありこせぬかも

Roma-ji: Asagoto ni waga miru yado no nadeshiko no hana ni mo kimi wa arikosenu kamo
English Translation: Every morning here
in my garden I gaze on
the pinks in their bloom:
if only you, my dear, could be
one of those flowers for me
Meaning: If only you could become the pinks in my garden, which I gaze upon every morning.
Commentary: Book Eight Autumn Love Poems 1616

Headnote: "A poem sent by Lady Kasa to Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi"
The poet wishes that her beloved might become the pinks in the garden she gazes on every morning. Her earnest, tender love, wishing to turn someone she can rarely meet into a flower she could see each morning, is expressed here.
The author, Lady Kasa, was a woman poet of the Nara period, and many of the love poems she sent to Ōtomo no Yakamochi are collected in the Man'yōshū.

The first line, "every morning," shows a habit of never failing to look.
The second line means "of the garden I gaze on."
The third line names the pink, a delicate pale crimson flower.
The fourth line means "even as a flower, you." Ōtomo no Yakamochi's 1448 in this book says he will gaze on the pinks, likening them to his beloved, so the heart that sees a lover in the same flower is sung from both the man's side and the woman's.
The final line is a wish formed by the negative of the desiderative "kosu" with "kamo": if only you would be.
Author: Lady Kasa
Source: Manyoshu
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