Kaku shitsutsu waga matsu shirushi aranu kamo yo no hito mina no tsune ni aranaku ni

かくしつつ我が待つ験あらぬかも
世の人皆の常にあらなくに

Roma-ji: Kaku shitsutsu waga matsu shirushi aranu kamo yo no hito mina no tsune ni aranaku ni
English Translation: Waiting on like this,
might there not be some reward
for the time I wait?
for no one in all this world
lives forever as they are
Meaning: Waiting like this, might my waiting not be rewarded? For none of the people in this world remain forever as they are.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2585

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing One's Feelings Directly"
Let her waiting at last be rewarded, since no one in this world can live forever: so sings a woman waiting for her lover. Mindful that human life is limited, she voices her impatience as the time of waiting slips away.
It belongs to the category "Expressing One's Feelings Directly." It is distinctive in layering an awareness of the impermanence of the world over the heart that waits in love, and it carries an urgent wish to meet soon precisely because life is limited.
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, "kaku shitsutsu": "while doing so." "Tsutsu" expresses repetition and continuation, describing days of continued waiting.
Second line, "waga matsu shirushi": "the reward of my waiting." "Shirushi" means effect or reward.
Third line, "aranu kamo": "might there not be?" The negative "nu" with "kamo" expresses a wish, and the poem pauses after the third line.
Fourth line, "yo no hito mina no": "all the people of the world." It turns to the common lot of humankind, including the speaker.
Fifth line, "tsune ni aranaku ni": "since they do not last forever." "Naku ni" is the nominalized form of the negative auxiliary "zu" followed by "ni," closing with a note of deep feeling.
Source: Manyoshu
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