Nubatama no kurokami shikite nagaki yo o tamakura no ue ni imo matsuramu ka

ぬばたまの黒髪敷きて長き夜を
手枕の上に妹待つらむか

Roma-ji: Nubatama no kurokami shikite nagaki yo o tamakura no ue ni imo matsuramu ka
English Translation: In jet-black splendor,
her dark tresses spread about,
through the long, long night,
on the pillow of her arm,
does my love lie waiting now
Meaning: Her black hair spread out, through this long night, on the pillow of her own arm, is my beloved lying waiting for me now?
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2631

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
Spreading her black hair over the bed and pillowing her head on her own arm through the long night, is his beloved waiting for him? A man far away imagines her figure. By describing such concrete details as her black hair and arm-pillow, the poem delicately conveys the sorrow of nights apart and his tenderness toward her.
Following the two preceding poems, this one too speaks through a pillow. Whereas those poems treat the pillow from the side of the waiting woman, here the man imagines the arm-pillow of the woman who waits for him, reversing the roles of the one who waits and the one awaited.
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, "nubatama no": a pillow word attached to "black hair." "Nubatama" is the seed of the blackberry lily, and because it is black it attaches to words such as "black" and "night."
Second line, "kurokami shikite": "spreading her black hair," picturing a woman lying with her long hair spread on a lonely bed.
Third line, "nagaki yo o": "through the long night," a night that feels long to one who waits.
Fourth line, "tamakura no ue ni": "on the pillow of her arm," here her own arm used as a pillow. The line is hypermetric, with eight syllables.
Fifth line, "imo matsuramu ka": "is my beloved waiting now?" The present conjectural auxiliary "ramu" with the question particle "ka" imagines the present state of the faraway beloved.
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Yueru himo tokamu hi tōmi shikitae no waga komakura wa koke mushi ni keri
Next Poem: Masokagami tadani shi imo o aimizu wa aga koi yamaji toshi wa henu tomo