Kaku dani mo are wa koinamu tamazusa no kimi ga tsukai o machi ya kanetemu

かくだにも我れは恋ひなむ玉梓の
君が使を待ちやかねてむ

Roma-ji: Kaku dani mo are wa koinamu tamazusa no kimi ga tsukai o machi ya kanetemu
English Translation: Even as much as this
shall I go on with longing,
with the jewel-catalpa,
for the messenger from you
will I be waiting in vain
Meaning: I shall go on longing for you even this much. Will I keep waiting, unable to bear it, for the messenger you send?
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2548

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing One's Feelings Directly"
This poem tells of the pain of waiting for word, asking whether the speaker will go on longing like this, unable to bear the wait for the beloved's messenger. It expresses, in the form of a question put to oneself, the frustration that not even the messenger who carries news, let alone the lover, arrives.
The fourth and fifth lines, "kimi ga tsukai o machi ya kanetemu," are identical to the second half of poem 2543 in this book, and poem 2545 also has "kimi ga tsukai o." Love poems about waiting for a messenger are gathered close together. And like the preceding poem with "kaku bakari," this one opens with words that measure the degree of love, matching the preceding poem.
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, "kaku dani mo": "even this much." The particles "dani" and "mo" stress the intensity of love.
Second line, "are wa koinamu": "I shall surely go on longing." "Namu" is the emphatic auxiliary "nu" followed by the conjectural "mu," and the poem breaks after the second line.
Third line, "tamazusa no": a pillow word attached to "messenger." It is said to come from messengers of old who carried letters on catalpa staffs, and here it introduces the lover's messenger.
Fourth line, "kimi ga tsukai o": "the messenger you send," the one who brings word of the beloved.
Fifth line, "machi ya kanetemu": "will I be unable to wait?" The particle "ya" poses a question and is answered by the attributive form of "mu," a kakari-musubi construction. "Kanu" adds the sense of being unable to bear it.
Source: Manyoshu
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