Ima no goto kokoro o tsune ni omoeraba mazu saku hana no tsuchi ni ochime ya mo

今のごと心を常に思へらば
まづ咲く花の地に落ちめやも

Roma-ji: Ima no goto kokoro o tsune ni omoeraba mazu saku hana no tsuchi ni ochime ya mo
English Translation: Just as you do now,
if you kept your heart always
thinking of me so,
would the first flower to bloom
ever fall to the ground? Never
Meaning: If only you would keep your heart always as it is now, would the first flower to bloom ever fall to the ground? Surely not.
Commentary: Book Eight Winter Miscellaneous Poems 1653

Headnote: "A poem by Agata no Inukai no Otome expressing her feelings through the plum"
The poet says that if her beloved would keep his heart unchanged as it is now, the first flower to bloom would never fall to the ground. As the headnote says, she expresses her feelings through the plum, identifying herself with its early, easily fallen blossoms and voicing her fear that his heart might change.
The author, Agata no Inukai no Otome, is a woman about whom little is known.

The first line means "as now."
The second line means "your heart, always unchanged."
The third line is a supposition formed by the irrealis of the continuative "ri" with "ba": "if you go on thinking so."
The fourth line, "the flower that blooms first," refers to the plum and stands for the poet herself.
The final line adds the rhetorical "ya mo" to the conjectural "me," denying: would it fall to the ground? Never. She wishes that his heart will not change.
Author: Agata no Inukai no Otome
Source: Manyoshu
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