Sato tōmi koiwabi ni keri masokagami omokage sarazu ime ni mie koso

里遠み恋わびにけりまそ鏡
面影去らず夢に見えこそ

Roma-ji: Sato tōmi koiwabi ni keri masokagami omokage sarazu ime ni mie koso
English Translation: Your village so far,
I am worn with longing now:
as in a clear mirror,
let your image never leave,
but appear to me in dreams
Meaning: Your village is so far away that I am worn out with longing. Like a clear mirror, let your image never leave me, and appear to me in my dreams.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2634

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
Since the beloved's village is far away and they cannot meet, the speaker is worn out with longing and wishes that at least the beloved's image, never leaving, might appear in dreams. The poem holds the aching wish to bridge through meetings in dreams a distance that cannot be crossed in waking life.
Following the two preceding poems, it contains "masokagami" and speaks through a mirror. According to the left note, it is a version of a poem by Kakinomoto no Hitomaro found earlier, transmitted with its phrases interchanged. Poem 2501 in this book reads "sato tōmi koi uraburenu masokagami toko no he sarazu ime ni mie koso," differing in the second and fourth lines. It is an example of how the same poem changed its wording as it was handed down.
The author is unknown. According to the left note, this poem appears earlier among the poems of Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, but since its phrases have been interchanged it is recorded here as well. The Hitomaro Collection is thought to contain both Hitomaro's own poems and poems by others that he recorded. Kakinomoto no Hitomaro was a court poet active in the reigns of Empress Jito and Emperor Monmu, and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "sato tōmi": "since the village is far." "Tōmi" adds the suffix "mi" to the stem of the adjective "tōshi" to give the distance of the beloved's village as the reason.
Second line, "koiwabi ni keri": "I have become worn with longing." The perfective "nu" in its form "ni" with the exclamatory "keri"; the poem breaks here. Poem 2501 reads "koi uraburenu."
Third line, "masokagami": "a clear mirror," a pillow word attached to "omokage" (image) because images are reflected in a mirror.
Fourth line, "omokage sarazu": "your image not leaving," the figure of the beloved that never leaves one's sight. Poem 2501 reads "toko no he sarazu."
Fifth line, "ime ni mie koso": "appear in my dreams, I pray." "Ime" is the old form of "yume" (dream), and "koso," attached to the continuative form of a verb, is a final particle expressing a wish addressed to another.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
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