Chihayaburu kami no motaseru inochi o ba ta ga tame ni ka mo nagaku hori semu

ちはやぶる神の持たせる命をば
誰がためにかも長く欲りせむ

Roma-ji: Chihayaburu kami no motaseru inochi o ba ta ga tame ni ka mo nagaku hori semu
English Translation: Our lives are held fast
in the hands of mighty gods,
fierce and swift of power:
for whose sake, then, should I wish
that my own might long endure?
Meaning: This life of mine, held by the mighty gods—for whose sake would I wish it to be long, if not for yours?
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2416

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
A person's life rests in the hands of the gods, but the reason the speaker wishes his to be long is none other than the beloved. Linking the wish for long life to the beloved, the poem pleads forcefully, in the form of a rhetorical question, the earnest desire to live on together.
This is one of the poems about gods placed at the start of the poems "Expressing Feelings through Things," and it speaks through the gods. Whereas the preceding poem, 2415, speaks of the long duration of love through the sacred fence, this one speaks through the length of a life held by the gods, so the two echo each other in their concern with long spans of time.
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, "chihayaburu": a pillow word attached to "god," expressing fierce and violent power.
Second line, "kami no motaseru": "which the gods hold." "Motaseru" is "motsu" with the honorific auxiliary "su" and the continuative "ri," showing the ancient belief that human life is under the rule of the gods.
Third line, "inochi o ba": "this life." "O ba" is the case particle "o" with the binding particle "wa," voiced, which singles out "life" with emphasis.
Fourth line, "ta ga tame ni ka mo": "for whose sake?" The binding particle "ka," with "mo" added, forms a kakari-musubi with "mu" in the last line and makes a rhetorical question.
Fifth line, "nagaku hori semu": "would I wish it long?" Responding to "ka" in the fourth line, it ends in the attributive "mu," implying that it is for the beloved and no one else.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
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