Tamakazura taenu mono kara sanuraku wa toshi no watari ni tada hitoyo nomi

玉葛絶えぬものからさ寝らくは
年の渡りにただ一夜のみ

Roma-ji: Tamakazura taenu mono kara sanuraku wa toshi no watari ni tada hitoyo nomi
English Translation: Like the jeweled vine,
never broken is our bond,
yet our sleeping side by side
in the crossing of the year
is for one night, only one.
Meaning: Though our bond, like the jeweled vine, is never broken, the nights we sleep together are only one, at the year's single crossing.
Commentary: Book Ten Autumn Miscellaneous Poems 2078

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Tanabata"
This poem laments that though the bond of the two, like a jeweled vine, never breaks, they can sleep together only one night at the yearly crossing. The contrast between an unbroken relationship and a single night's meeting brings out the ache of the stars' love. Like "only on the night of the seventh day in a year" in 2032, it sings of the contrast between a year and a single night.

The first line, "tamakazura," a lovely vine, is a pillow word for "not breaking," from its long trailing tendrils.
In the second line, "taenu mono kara," "mono kara" is adversative: though it never breaks.
In the third line, "sanuraku wa," "sa" is a prefix and "nuraku" the nominalized form of "nu": sleeping together.
The fourth line, "at the year's crossing," names the yearly crossing.
The last line, "only one night," closes by asserting the brevity of a single night.
Source: Manyoshu
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