Koi shinamu nochi wa nani semu waga inochi ikeru hi ni koso mimaku hori sure

恋死なむ後は何せむ我が命
生ける日にこそ見まく欲りすれ

Roma-ji: Koi shinamu nochi wa nani semu waga inochi ikeru hi ni koso mimaku hori sure
English Translation: If I die of love,
what good will it be after?
While this life of mine
still lives on, it is in these days
that I long to see you
Meaning: What good is it once I have died of love? It is in the days while my life still lasts that I long to see you.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2592

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing One's Feelings Directly"
Once one has died of longing, nothing can come of it; it is while life remains that the speaker wants to meet the beloved. Using the hyperbole of dying of love, the poem frankly states an urgent wish that the living present is what matters.
It is a close variant sharing almost the same idea and wording with poem 560 in Book Four by Otomo no Momoyo, "If I die of love, what good will it be after? It is for the days I live that I long to see my love." A turn of phrase widely recited at the time seems to have been taken into each 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, "koi shinamu": "I shall die of love." To die from the pain of love is an expression often found in the Man'yoshu love poems.
Second line, "nochi wa nani semu": "what good will it be after?" "Nani semu" is rhetorical, meaning it is of no use, and the sense breaks after the second line.
Third line, "waga inochi": "my life." It leads on to "the days I live," making one aware of the limit of a lifetime.
Fourth line, "ikeru hi ni koso": "in the days I am alive." The particle "koso" strongly singles out the living present and is answered by the realis form "sure" at the end.
Fifth line, "mimaku hori sure": "I wish to see you." "Mimaku" is the nominalized form of "mimu," meaning seeing or meeting, and "hori sure" is the realis ending answering "koso."
Source: Manyoshu
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