Hito no nuru umai wa nezute hashiki yashi kimi ga me sura o horishi nagekamu

人の寝る味寐は寝ずてはしきやし
君が目すらを欲りし嘆かむ

Roma-ji: Hito no nuru umai wa nezute hashiki yashi kimi ga me sura o horishi nagekamu
English Translation: While other people sleep,
I do not sleep that sweet sleep;
O my dearest one,
even just to see your eyes
I shall long for you and sigh
Meaning: Not sleeping the sweet sleep that others sleep, I shall go on sighing, longing, my dear one, just to see your eyes.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2369

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing One's Feelings Directly"
On a night when everyone else rests in peaceful sleep, the speaker lies awake, sighing and wishing at least to see the beloved's face: this poem depicts the pain of a sleepless night of love. Even if a meeting is impossible, the speaker longs for a single glimpse, and that aching wish is put in plain words.
The headnote continues from the preceding poem, "Expressing One's Feelings Directly," and this is a love poem that states its feeling without speaking through objects. Following the preceding poem on the helplessness of first love, this poem portrays a night in which that love has stolen even sleep.
The original text notes a variant, "in one book the poem says: thinking of you, the night has dawned." In that version the closing lines mean that the night has broken while the speaker was thinking of the beloved. Here the main text, "kimi ga me sura o horishi nagekamu," is adopted.
The author is unknown; according to the left note, the poem comes from the Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection. That collection is thought to contain both Hitomaro's own poems and poems by others that he recorded. Kakinomoto no Hitomaro was a court poet active in the reigns of Empress Jito and Emperor Monmu, and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "hito no nuru": "while other people sleep." It establishes a night when everyone but the speaker is asleep, bringing into relief the speaker lying awake alone.
Second line, "umai wa nezute": "umai" means deep, pleasant sleep. "Zute" is the negative auxiliary "zu" followed by the particle "te," meaning "without sleeping."
Third line, "hashiki yashi": an exclamation meaning "O dear one," which leads on to "kimi" in the fourth line. In this phrase the speaker's affection spills out unbidden.
Fourth line, "kimi ga me sura o": "kimi ga me" means "your eyes," that is, meeting and seeing the beloved's face. The particle "sura" means "at least, if only," marking the smallest of wishes.
Fifth line, "horishi nagekamu": "horishi" is the continuative form of the verb "horu," to desire, with the emphatic particle "shi." The auxiliary "mu" expresses conjecture, closing with "I shall surely go on sighing."
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
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