Shikitae no koromode karete wa o matsu to aruramu kora wa omokage ni miyu

敷栲の衣手離れて我を待つと
あるらむ子らは面影に見ゆ

Roma-ji: Shikitae no koromode karete wa o matsu to aruramu kora wa omokage ni miyu
English Translation: Parted from the sleeves
of our bed, spread with fine cloth,
waiting there for me
my girl must be even now:
I see her image before me
Meaning: Parted from the sleeves we shared in sleep, she must be waiting for me even now, and I see her image before my eyes.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2607

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing One's Feelings Directly"
Parted from the sleeves they shared in bed, the beloved must be waiting for him even now, and her image rises before his eyes: this is a love poem of a man far away. Imagining that she too is waiting, he sees her as a vision, and the poem conveys the ache of lovers forced to live apart.
The headnote "Expressing One's Feelings Directly" names the category of poems that state the heart's thoughts openly, without speaking through objects. The next poem, 2608, likewise begins from a parting of sleeves, "since the day I parted from my beloved's sleeves," so poems that long for a distant lover through the image of sleeves follow one another. Poem 2615 in this book also shares the opening line "shikitae no."
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, "shikitae no": a pillow word attached to robes, sleeves, pillows and beds, here to "koromode" in the second line. Meaning cloth spread on a bed, it also calls to mind the bed the lovers shared.
Second line, "koromode karete": "parted from the sleeves." "Koromode" means sleeve, and the phrase tells of the beloved having left the sleeves of the man she slept beside.
Third line, "wa o matsu to": "thinking to wait for me." The particle "to" marks a quotation, as the speaker guesses at her thoughts.
Fourth line, "aruramu kora wa": "my girl, who must be waiting." The auxiliary "ramu" conjectures about something happening now out of sight, imagining her present state far away. The "ra" of "kora" is a suffix of affection.
Fifth line, "omokage ni miyu": "I see her image." It describes the absent lover appearing vividly before the eyes, and the conclusive form closes the poem firmly.
Source: Manyoshu
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