Amakumo no yoriai tōmi awazu tomo atashi tamakura ware makame ya mo

天雲の寄り合ひ遠み逢はずとも
異し手枕我れまかめやも

Roma-ji: Amakumo no yoriai tōmi awazu tomo atashi tamakura ware makame ya mo
English Translation: Far off is the place
where the clouds of heaven meet;
though we cannot meet,
another's arm for pillow,
would I ever lay my head?
Meaning: Though we cannot meet, so far apart are we, like the distant edge where the clouds of heaven meet the earth, would I ever rest my head on another's arm? Never.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2451

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
Even if they cannot meet, set as far apart as the distant edge where the clouds of heaven touch the earth, the speaker vows never to sleep pillowed on anyone else's arm: a love poem pledging unchanging fidelity to a distant lover. The vast distance is drawn with the clouds at the end of the sky, and the unwavering devotion is stated forcefully through a rhetorical question.
Like the preceding poem, this one speaks through clouds. Where the two poems before it used clouded scenes to suggest a lover seen only dimly, this one uses the far edge where the clouds converge to express how far apart the two are.
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, "amakumo no": "of the clouds of heaven." Joined to the next line, it calls up the place where the clouds gather, the far horizon where heaven meets earth.
Second line, "yoriai tōmi": "so far, like the place where the clouds meet." "Tōmi" is the stem of the adjective "tōshi" (far) with the suffix "mi," expressing cause or reason.
Third line, "awazu tomo": "even if we do not meet." The particle "tomo" sets up a concessive condition and draws out the vow that follows.
Fourth line, "atashi tamakura": "another's arm for a pillow." "Atashi" means other or different, referring to sleeping with someone other than the beloved.
Fifth line, "ware makame ya mo": "would I pillow my head on it? Never." "Maku" is a verb meaning to use as a pillow; the realis "me" of the conjectural "mu" followed by "ya mo" forms a rhetorical question that becomes a firm vow of refusal.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
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