Hashiki yashi fukanu kaze yue tamakushige akete sa neni shi are zo kuyashiki

はしきやし吹かぬ風ゆゑ玉櫛笥
開けてさ寝にし我れぞ悔しき

Roma-ji: Hashiki yashi fukanu kaze yue tamakushige akete sa neni shi are zo kuyashiki
English Translation: Ah, how sad it is:
for a wind that never blew,
as a comb box opens
I opened the door and slept;
how I regret what I did
Meaning: Ah, for the sake of a wind that never came, I left the door open as I slept, and now I regret it.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2678

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
The speaker, a woman, regrets having slept with the door open for the sake of a wind that never came. Likening the lover who does not visit to "a wind that does not blow," she rues her folly in leaving the door open in hope that he might come.
This is one of the poems on wind. Where the preceding poem grieved on a night of storm wind, this one speaks of a wind that does not blow, so the blowing and the absent wind form a pair.
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, "hashiki yashi": originally meaning "dear," here used as an exclamation of sighing, "ah." It sets out the lament at the start of the poem.
Second line, "fukanu kaze yue": "for a wind that did not blow." It stands for the lover who does not come, and "yue" expresses cause.
Third line, "tamakushige": a fine box for combs, a pillow word attached to "open" from the opening of its lid.
Fourth line, "akete sa neni shi": "I opened it and slept." "Sa" in "sa ne" is a prefix, followed by "ni," the continuative form of the perfective "nu," and "shi," the attributive form of the past "ki."
Fifth line, "are zo kuyashiki": "it is I who regret." The particle "zo" is answered by the attributive "kuyashiki" of the adjective "kuyashi" in a kakarimusubi that sharpens her self-reproach.
Source: Manyoshu
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