Kawachidori sumu sawa no ue ni tatsu kiri no ichishirokemu na ai ii somete ba

川千鳥棲む沢の上に立つ霧の
いちしろけむな相言ひそめてば

Roma-ji: Kawachidori sumu sawa no ue ni tatsu kiri no ichishirokemu na ai ii somete ba
English Translation: Like the mist rising
over the marsh where dwell
the plovers of the stream,
how clear our love would become,
were we to begin to speak
Meaning: Like the mist that rises over the marsh where river plovers dwell, it would surely be plain for all to see, if we were to begin speaking to each other.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2680

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
As the mist rising over the marsh where river plovers dwell is plain to see, so the love would at once be noticed if the two began to speak to each other. Standing at the threshold of love, the speaker hesitates for fear of gossip.
After the poems on wind, this is a poem on mist. The scene of mist over the marsh in the upper verse serves as a preface leading to the feeling of love in the lower verse.
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, "kawachidori": the plovers that live by the river. It sets a waterside scene and opens the preface.
Second line, "sumu sawa no ue ni": "over the marsh where they dwell." The line has an extra syllable, running to eight.
Third line, "tatsu kiri no": "like the mist that rises." The first three lines are a preface, leading from the clearly visible mist to "ichishirokemu" in the fourth line.
Fourth line, "ichishirokemu na": "it would surely be plain." The adjective "ichishiroshi" with the conjectural "mu" and exclamatory "na" closes a clause here.
Fifth line, "ai ii somete ba": "if we were to begin speaking together." The irrealis form of the perfective "tsu" with "ba" forms a condition, added in inverted order as the reason for the fourth line.
Source: Manyoshu
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