Sokiita mochi fukeru itame no awazaraba ika ni semu to ka waga nesomekemu

そき板もち葺ける板目のあはざらば
いかにせむとか我が寝そめけむ

Roma-ji: Sokiita mochi fukeru itame no awazaraba ika ni semu to ka waga nesomekemu
English Translation: Like the boards' seams
on a roof thatched with shingles,
if we do not meet,
what was it I thought to do
when first I lay down with you
Meaning: Like the seams of a roof thatched with thin shingles that will not meet, if we should not meet again, what did I mean to do when I first lay down with you?
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2650

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
The speaker wonders what she intended when she first slept with her lover, if they should not meet again, voicing the unease that follows a pledge of love. Through the seams of a shingled roof that do not fit together, the poem expresses the fear that their bond will not last.
The first two lines form a preface in which the seams of the shingles not fitting together, "awazu," lead to the sense of "not meeting." After rural life and handwork, this poem speaks through the building of a house, and it is regarded as a woman's poem.
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, "sokiita mochi": "with thinly split boards." The original script writes these as "ten-sun boards."
Second line, "fukeru itame no": "the seams of the boards laid on the roof." These two lines form a preface leading to the next line.
Third line, "awazaraba": the seams not fitting together, with the sense "if we do not meet." It is a hypothetical condition formed from the negative "zu" and "ba."
Fourth line, "ika ni semu to ka": "thinking to do what?" The binding particle "ka" poses a question that links to "kemu" in the last line.
Fifth line, "waga nesomekemu": "did I begin to sleep with you?" The past-conjectural "kemu" in its attributive form concludes the "ka," as the speaker looks back on her earlier self.
Source: Manyoshu
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