Komahito no nukagami yueru shimeyū no shiminishi kokoro ware wasureme ya

肥人の額髪結へる染木綿の
染みにし心我れ忘れめや

Roma-ji: Komahito no nukagami yueru shimeyū no shiminishi kokoro ware wasureme ya
English Translation: As the dyed cotton cords
binding up the forelock hair
of the Koma folk,
so is my heart deeply dyed;
could I ever forget?
Meaning: Like the dyed cotton cords with which the Koma people bind their forelocks, my heart is deeply dyed with love. How could I ever forget?
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2496

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
Through the dyed cotton cords with which the Koma folk bind their forelocks, the speaker vows never to forget a love that has dyed the heart deep. Taking the unusual hair ornament of a people from distant lands as a preface, it shows love soaking into the heart as dye soaks into cloth.
The Koma folk are thought to be people of southern Kyushu, and with the Hayato of the next poem, poems using peoples of southern Kyushu as prefaces are placed side by side. Just as a dye once set does not fade, it can be read as a vow that the heart will not change.
The original text notes a variant, "one version reads wasurae me ya mo," meaning "could I be made to forget?"; here the main text, "ware wasureme ya," has been followed.
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, "komahito no": "of the Koma folk." The Koma people are thought to have been inhabitants of southern Kyushu, of the Kuma district of Higo.
Second line, "nukagami yueru": "who bind their forelock hair." "Yueru" is "yuu" (to bind) with the attributive form of the continuative "ri," describing the hairstyle of a people from distant lands.
Third line, "shimeyū no": "like dyed cotton cords." The opening through this line forms a preface, leading through the likeness of the sounds "shime" and "shimi" into "shiminishi" in the fourth line.
Fourth line, "shiminishi kokoro": "the heart that has been deeply dyed." The perfective "ni" and the past attributive "shi" show that the feeling has soaked completely into the heart.
Fifth line, "ware wasureme ya": "could I forget? I could not." "Me" is the realis form of the conjectural "mu," and "ya" is a particle of rhetorical question.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Taratsune no haha ga kau ko no mayogomori komoreru imo o mimu yoshi mo ga mo
Next Poem: Hayahito no na ni ou yogoe no ichishiroku wa ga na wa noritsu tsuma to tanomase