Masurao no kokoro wa nashi ni akihagi no koi nomi ni ya mo nazumite arinamu

大夫の心はなしに秋萩の
恋のみにやもなづみてありなむ

Roma-ji: Masurao no kokoro wa nashi ni akihagi no koi nomi ni ya mo nazumite arinamu
English Translation: With no heart at all
of a stalwart, manly sort,
autumn bush clover—
only lost in love for it
shall I go on, bogged and struggling?
Meaning: With none of a stalwart man's resolve, am I to go on, entangled only in my love for the autumn bush clover?
Commentary: Book Ten Autumn Miscellaneous Poems 2122

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On Flowers"
This poem laughs at itself, wondering whether, forgetting a stalwart man's resolve, the speaker will go on captivated only by love for the autumn bush clover. Likening attachment to the clover to love, it looks back on an unmanly self. Like 1924 in the spring love poems, where one called himself a stalwart man yet collapsed in sighs of love, there is humor in the contrast of manliness and love.

The first line, "of a stalwart man," names the ideal.
The second line, "without the heart," names what is lost.
The third line, "for the autumn bush clover," names the object of love.
In the fourth line, "koi nomi ni ya mo," "ya" is an interrogative particle in kakari-musubi with "mu" in the last line.
In the last line, "nazumite arinamu," "nazumu" means to be captivated and troubled, "na" is emphatic and "mu" conjecture.
Source: Manyoshu
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