Utsukushi to omoerikerashi na wasure to musubishi himo no tokuraku omoeba

愛しと思へりけらしな忘れと
結びし紐の解くらく思へば

Roma-ji: Utsukushi to omoerikerashi na wasure to musubishi himo no tokuraku omoeba
English Translation: Dear to that one's heart
I must have been, it seems,
"Do not forget me,"
the cord that we tied together
now comes undone, I think
Meaning: That one must have thought me dear, it seems, when I consider how the cord we tied, saying "Do not forget," is coming undone.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2558

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing One's Feelings Directly"
Seeing the cord tied with the words "Do not forget" come undone of its own accord, the speaker infers that the lover must have cherished her. Against the folk belief of the time that a loosening cord was a sign of being thought of, the poem expresses joy at confirming the lover's heart.
The Man'yoshu often sings of the custom of lovers tying each other's garment cords at parting and vowing not to untie them until they meet again. Here the cord's coming undone by itself is taken as a sign of the lover's feeling; the first half states the conclusion and the second half gives the grounds, in an inverted structure.
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, "utsukushi to": "as dear." "Utsukushi" expresses heartfelt tenderness.
Second line, "omoerikerashi": "must have thought, it seems." The continuative auxiliary "ri" is followed by "kerashi," which infers a past matter from evidence, and the poem breaks after the second line.
Third line, "na wasure to": "saying 'do not forget.'" The adverb "na" expresses prohibition, quoting the words spoken at parting.
Fourth line, "musubishi himo no": "the cord that we tied." The attributive "shi" of the past auxiliary "ki" recalls the tying of the cords.
Fifth line, "tokuraku omoeba": "when I think how it comes undone." "Tokuraku" is the nominalized form of "toku," and the inversion places the grounds for the inference of the second line at the very end.
Source: Manyoshu
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