Mayone kaki tare o ka mimu to omoitsutsu kenagaku koishi imo ni aeru kamo

眉根掻き誰をか見むと思ひつつ
日長く恋ひし妹に逢へるかも

Roma-ji: Mayone kaki tare o ka mimu to omoitsutsu kenagaku koishi imo ni aeru kamo
English Translation: Scratching my eyebrows,
whom shall I see, I wondered,
thinking all the while,
and I have met my own girl,
longed for through so many days
Meaning: Scratching my eyebrows, I kept wondering whom I would see, and then I met my beloved, whom I had longed for through so many days.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2614

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing One's Feelings Directly"
Scratching his eyebrows and wondering whom he would meet, he was able to meet the lover he had long yearned for: this is a love poem of joy. Itching eyebrows were held to be a sign of meeting the person one longs for, and the poem rejoices that, just as the omen promised, he met his beloved.
This poem is a variant recorded in the left note to poem 2614 under the words "a poem in a certain book." In place of the main poem's "inishiehito o aimitsuru kamo," it reads "kenagaku koishi imo ni aeru kamo," calling the beloved "imo" and so speaking in a man's voice. Its second and third lines, "tare o ka mimu to omoitsutsu," likewise turn to wondering, after the omen, whom one will meet.
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, "mayone kaki": "scratching my eyebrows." Itching eyebrows were thought to herald a meeting with a loved one, and the poem opens with the same line as the main poem.
Second line, "tare o ka mimu to": "whom shall I see?" The particle "ka" is answered by "mimu," with the attributive form of the auxiliary "mu," in a kakari-musubi construction. It corresponds to "shita ibukashimi" in the main poem.
Third line, "omoitsutsu": "thinking all the while." "Tsutsu" marks continuing action, telling how he mused, after the omen, on whom he would meet.
Fourth line, "kenagaku koishi": "longed for through many days." "Kenagaku" means over a long span of days, and "shi" is the attributive form of the past auxiliary "ki," showing it was a long-held love.
Fifth line, "imo ni aeru kamo": "I have met my beloved." "Ru" is the attributive form of the continuative auxiliary "ri," and the exclamatory particle "kamo" conveys his joy at meeting her as the omen foretold.
Source: Manyoshu
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