Hitori nu to komo kuchime yamo ayamushiro o ni naru made ni kimi o shi matamu

ひとり寝と薦朽ちめやも綾席
緒になるまでに君をし待たむ

Roma-ji: Hitori nu to komo kuchime yamo ayamushiro o ni naru made ni kimi o shi matamu
English Translation: Though I sleep alone,
will the reed mat rot away?
Till this damask mat
wears down into bare threads, I
will wait for you, my love
Meaning: Will the reed mat rot because I sleep alone? It will not. Until this damask mat wears down to bare threads, I will wait for you.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2538

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing One's Feelings Directly"
Sleeping alone will not rot the reed mat, she says, so she will wait for him even until the fine damask mat wears down to mere threads: this is a woman's love poem. Setting a humble reed mat beside a fine damask one and exaggerating the time it would take to wear a mat to threads, it expresses the strength of a heart that keeps on waiting.
The author is unknown. The anonymous poems of Book Eleven gather love poems by people whose names have not come down to us.

First line, "hitori nu to": "because I sleep alone." "To" means "just because."
Second line, "komo kuchime yamo": "will the reed mat rot? It will not." "Meyamo" forms a rhetorical question, and the poem pauses here. "Komo" is a humble mat woven of wild rice stalks.
Third line, "ayamushiro": a fine mat woven with a damask pattern, contrasted with the reed mat of the second line.
Fourth line, "o ni naru made ni": "until it wears down to threads." The exaggeration of a mat worn down to bare threads conveys the length of the wait.
Fifth line, "kimi o shi matamu": "I will wait for you." "Shi" is emphatic and "mu" is volitional, stating a firm resolve.
Source: Manyoshu
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