Omou ramu sono hito nare ya nubatama no yogoto ni kimi ga ime ni shi miyuru

思ふらむその人なれやぬばたまの
夜ごとに君が夢にし見ゆる

Roma-ji: Omou ramu sono hito nare ya nubatama no yogoto ni kimi ga ime ni shi miyuru
English Translation: Is it that you are
the one who keeps me in mind,
that through the black night,
every night, my love, you come
and appear to me in dreams?
Meaning: Is it because you are the one who thinks of me? Night after night, you appear to me in my dreams.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2569

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing One's Feelings Directly"
Is it because you are thinking of me that you appear in my dreams every night? The poem seems to test the beloved's heart. It draws on the ancient belief that when someone thinks of you, their figure appears in your dreams, rejoicing in the dreams as proof of love while letting a trace of uncertainty show through the form of a question.
It belongs to the category "Expressing One's Feelings Directly" and appears to be spoken from a woman's point of view. Learning another's heart through dreams is a motif that appears often in the love poems of Book Eleven of the Man'yoshu.
The original text also notes, as "a poem in another book," a variant whose closing lines read "yoru hiru to iwazu a ga koiwataru" ("night and day alike I go on longing"). In that version, the poem speaks not of the beloved appearing in dreams but of the speaker's own unceasing longing. Here the main text, "yogoto ni kimi ga ime ni shi miyuru," has been followed.
The author is unknown. The anonymous poems of Book Eleven gather the love poems of people whose names have not come down to us.

First line, "omou ramu": "who must be thinking of me." The auxiliary "ramu" of present conjecture guesses at the heart of someone not present.
Second line, "sono hito nare ya": "is it because you are that person?" "Nare ya" is the realis form of the copula "nari" with the particle "ya," expressing a question.
Third line, "nubatama no": a pillow word attached to "night." The blackness of the nubatama berry calls up the darkness of night.
Fourth line, "yogoto ni kimi ga": "every night, you." That it happens night after night shows that the beloved's thoughts continue.
Fifth line, "ime ni shi miyuru": "you appear in my dreams." "Shi" is emphatic, and the poem closes in the attributive form "miyuru" in agreement with "ya" in the second line.
Source: Manyoshu
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