Owarida no itada no hashi no kohorenaba keta yori yukamu na koi so wagimo

小治田の板田の橋の壊れなば
桁より行かむな恋ひそ我妹

Roma-ji: Owarida no itada no hashi no kohorenaba keta yori yukamu na koi so wagimo
English Translation: If the bridge should break,
the bridge of Itada there
in Owarida,
I would cross upon its beams:
do not pine so, my dear wife
Meaning: Even if the bridge of Itada in Owarida should break, I would make my way across along its beams. Do not pine so, my beloved.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2644

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
Even if the bridge of Itada in Owarida were to break, the man would come across on its beams, so his beloved should not grieve: this poem soothes and encourages her. Speaking through the familiar bridge on his path to her, he declares his firm resolve to come to her whatever the obstacle.
The headnote "Expressing Feelings through Things" names a category of poems that convey love through everyday objects and scenes. This poem speaks through a bridge, and it is followed by poems on timber workers in the mountains and on the cord of a net float, so that here love poems tied to people's daily life and labor run on in sequence.
The author is unknown. The anonymous poems of Book Eleven gather the love poems of people whose names have not come down to us.

First line, "owarida no": Owarida (Oharida), an area thought to lie between present-day Asuka and Kashihara in Nara Prefecture, known as the site of Empress Suiko's Oharida Palace.
Second line, "itada no hashi no": the bridge of Itada in Owarida, whose location is uncertain. The repeated "no" narrows the focus from the district to the bridge.
Third line, "kohorenaba": "if it should break," with the perfective auxiliary "nu" in its "na" form followed by "ba" to make a hypothetical condition. Up to this line the poem posits an obstacle on the way.
Fourth line, "keta yori yukamu": "I will go along the beams." "Yori" marks the route and "mu" expresses intention; the poem breaks here.
Fifth line, "na koi so wagimo": "do not pine, my wife." "Na ... so" forms a prohibition, and the poem closes with the tender address "wagimo."
Source: Manyoshu
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