Amatobu ya karu no yashiro no iwaitsuki ikuyo made aramu komorizuma zo mo

天飛ぶや軽の社の斎ひ槻
幾代まであらむ隠り妻ぞも

Roma-ji: Amatobu ya karu no yashiro no iwaitsuki ikuyo made aramu komorizuma zo mo
English Translation: Like the sacred zelkova
at the shrine of Karu, where
wild geese wing the sky,
for how many ages must she
remain my hidden wife
Meaning: Like the sacred zelkova of the shrine at Karu, how many ages must she remain a hidden wife?
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2656

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
Like the zelkova honored as a sacred tree at the shrine of Karu, which no one may touch, the speaker wonders how long his beloved must remain a hidden wife: so laments this poem. Through the sacred tree, it conveys the long duration of a love that cannot be made public and the longing for one who is hard to approach.
The first three lines form a preface in which the long years of the sacred tree lead to "ikuyo," "how many ages." The untouchable tree honored by the gods also overlaps with the image of a hidden wife who cannot be met for fear of others' eyes. From this poem on, poems on gods and shrines continue through poem 2663, forming a group of love poems that pray to and fear the gods.
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, "amatobu ya": a pillow word attached to "Karu," through the sound of "kari," the wild geese flying in the sky.
Second line, "karu no yashiro no": "of the shrine at Karu," near present-day Okaru in Kashihara, Nara Prefecture.
Third line, "iwaitsuki": a zelkova honored as a sacred tree. These three lines form a preface, the tree's great age leading to "ikuyo."
Fourth line, "ikuyo made aramu": "until how many ages will it be so?" The conjectural "mu" expresses grief at a love with no end in sight.
Fifth line, "komorizuma zo mo": "a hidden wife, alas." "Zo mo" expresses a question tinged with deep feeling, closing the poem on the noun "komorizuma."
Source: Manyoshu
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