Koto toku wa naka wa yodomase minashigawa tayu to iu koto o arikosu na yume

言急くは中は淀ませ水無川
絶ゆといふことをありこすなゆめ

Roma-ji: Koto toku wa naka wa yodomase minashigawa tayu to iu koto o arikosu na yume
English Translation: If the talk runs high,
let the flow between us pause;
like a waterless stream,
that it should run dry for good,
let this never, ever be
Meaning: If people's talk grows too loud, let what is between us pause for a while; but like the waterless river, never let it come to an end.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2712

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
While people's gossip is loud, the speaker can accept letting their meetings stagnate for a while, but presses the partner never to let their bond come to an end. Accepting the restraint needed to avoid rumor, the speaker expresses the fear of separation through a strong prohibition.
Expressing feelings through the flow of a river, the poem overlays the stagnation and drying of water on a break in the relationship. While the preceding poem tells of love beginning from hearing a rumor, this one sings of love kept from meeting because of rumor, continuing the sequence of poems about gossip.
The author is unknown. The anonymous poems of Book Eleven gather love poems by people whose names have not been handed down.

First line, "koto toku wa": "when people's talk is pressing." "Koto" refers to people's words, that is, gossip.
Second line, "naka wa yodomase": "let what is between us stagnate." Like a river's flow pausing, it means refraining from meeting for a while. The poem pauses here.
Third line, "minashigawa": a river whose water flows underground so that none shows on the surface, a pillow word attached to "tayu" (to cease).
Fourth line, "tayu to iu koto o": "that thing called ceasing." It overlays the drying of the river with the ending of their bond. This line has an extra syllable.
Fifth line, "arikosu na yume": "never let it be." "Kosu" is an auxiliary expressing a wish, and with the prohibitive "na" it means "do not let it happen." "Yume" means "never," and by inversion presses the point strongly.
Source: Manyoshu
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