Haya yukite itsushika kimi o aimimu to omoishi kokoro ima zo naginuru

早行きていつしか君を相見むと
思ひし心今ぞなぎぬる

Roma-ji: Haya yukite itsushika kimi o aimimu to omoishi kokoro ima zo naginuru
English Translation: To go there swiftly,
and soon, as soon as could be,
to meet you, my love,
so I thought, and now my heart,
now at last, has come to calm
Meaning: The heart that kept thinking I must hurry and meet you as soon as I could has now, at last, grown calm.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2579

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing One's Feelings Directly"
The heart that had been eager to hurry off and meet the beloved as soon as possible has at last grown calm now that they have met. The relief and contentment of a long-awaited meeting fulfilled are entrusted to "nagu," a word for wind and waves subsiding.
It belongs to the category "Expressing One's Feelings Directly." Poem 2567, a little earlier in this book, says that longing only grows stronger after meeting, showing the opposite mood to this poem, in which meeting brings calm.
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, "haya yukite": "going quickly." It shows a heart eager to go and meet.
Second line, "itsushika kimi o": "you, as soon as may be." "Itsushika" expresses an eager wish for something to happen soon.
Third line, "aimimu to": "I would meet you." The volitional auxiliary "mu" expresses the wish to meet.
Fourth line, "omoishi kokoro": "the heart that thought so." "Shi," the attributive form of the past auxiliary "ki," looks back on the heart before the meeting.
Fifth line, "ima zo naginuru": "now it has grown calm." It closes in "nuru," the attributive form of the perfective auxiliary "nu," in agreement with the particle "zo."
Source: Manyoshu
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