Minazuki no tsuchi sae sakete teru hi ni mo waga sode hime ya kimi ni awazu shite

六月の地さへ裂けて照る日にも
我が袖干めや君に逢はずして

Roma-ji: Minazuki no tsuchi sae sakete teru hi ni mo waga sode hime ya kimi ni awazu shite
English Translation: In the sixth month's heat,
when the very earth is split
by the burning sun,
could my sleeves then ever dry,
while I have not met with you?
Meaning: Even in the sun of the Sixth Month, which blazes till the very earth cracks, could my sleeves ever dry, so long as I have not met you?
Commentary: Book Ten Summer Love Poems 1995

Headnote: "Love Expressed Through the Sun"
This poem says that even under the Sixth Month sun, blazing enough to split the earth, sleeves wet with tears of not meeting the beloved will not dry. Its headnote is "Love Expressed Through the Sun." Through the hyperbolic figure of fierce midsummer sunlight, it strongly pleads the ceaselessness of tears and the pain of love. Following the preceding poem's sleeves wet with dew, it sings of sleeves that will not dry even in scorching sun, closing the Summer Love Poems.

The first line, "of the Sixth Month," refers to the sixth lunar month, midsummer.
In the second line, "tsuchi sae sakete," "sae" expresses addition: splitting even the earth.
The third line, "even in the blazing sun," names the heat.
In the fourth line, "waga sode hime ya," "me ya" is rhetorical: would my sleeves dry? surely not.
The last line, "without meeting you," gives by inversion the reason the sleeves will not dry.
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Natsukusa no tsuyuwakegoromo tsukenaku ni waga koromode no hiru toki mo naki
Next Poem: Amanogawa mizu sae ni teru fune hatete fune naru hito wa imo to mieki ya