Matsugaeri shiite are ya wa mitsuguri no nakanobori konu maro to iu yatsuko

松返りしひてあれやは三栗の
中上り来ぬ麻呂といふ奴

Roma-ji: Matsugaeri shiite are ya wa mitsuguri no nakanobori konu maro to iu yatsuko
English Translation: Like the turning pine,
has he grown dull and addled?
Like three chestnuts' midst,
in mid-term he won't come up,
that fellow by the name of Maro.
Meaning: Has he gone soft in the head? That fellow called Maro never comes up to the capital in the middle of his term.
Commentary: Book Nine Love Poems 1783

Headnote: "A poem in reply by his wife"
To her husband's complaint that no word comes, the wife retorts: has he gone soft in the head, that fellow called Maro who never comes up to the capital mid-term? Calling her husband yatsuko, "that fellow," she shows a playful intimacy.
This answers the husband's poem, 1782. Where he complained that no message came, she turns it back on him: it is he who does not come up to the capital. The author is his wife, whose name is not recorded. According to the left note, the poem comes from the Hitomaro Collection, and some take "Maro" to be Hitomaro himself.

The first line, "like the turning pine," is considered a pillow word for shii, though how it connects is unclear.
The second line, "has he grown dull and addled?" uses shiu, "to become dull," with the questioning yawa. The poem pauses here.
The third line, "like three chestnuts' midst," is a pillow word for naka, "middle," from the middle nut of three in a burr.
The fourth line, "in mid-term he won't come up," answers the husband's "no word comes" with the same negative nu.
The final line, "that fellow by the name of Maro," ends on a noun with eight syllables, adding humor by pushing him away.
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Yuki koso ba haruhi kiyurame kokoro sae kieusetare ya koto mo kayowanu
Next Poem: Watatsumi no izure no kami o inoraba ka yukusa mo kusa mo fune no hayakemu