Kurenai no asaha no nora ni karu kaya no tsuka no aida mo a o wasurasu na

紅の浅葉の野らに刈る草の
束の間も我を忘らすな

Roma-ji: Kurenai no asaha no nora ni karu kaya no tsuka no aida mo a o wasurasu na
English Translation: On the Asaha moor,
shallow as the crimson dye,
the grass that is cut,
not even for a handful's space
may you forget me, my love
Meaning: Like a single sheaf of grass cut on the moor of Asaha, pale as crimson dye, do not forget me, not even for a moment.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2763

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
From the single handful of grass cut on the moor of Asaha, the poem draws out the phrase "a handful's space," a fleeting moment, and begs the beloved not to forget the speaker for even that long. Through the familiar scene of cutting grass in the fields, it voices an earnest plea to someone far away.
In this sequence on grasses, the soft grass of the preceding poem is followed by grass cut on the moor. The movement from the concrete act of cutting and binding grass to "tsuka no aida," an expression for a brief time, is deftly handled.
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, "kurenai no": a pillow word that attaches to "asa" (shallow), since crimson can be a pale tint. Placing a vivid color at the start lends the poem brilliance.
Second line, "asaha no nora ni": "on the moor of Asaha." The location of Asaha is said to be uncertain; the "ra" of "nora" is a suffix denoting place.
Third line, "karu kaya no": "of the grass that is cut." The first three lines form a preface, the "tsuka" (sheaf) of cut grass leading into "tsuka no aida."
Fourth line, "tsuka no aida mo": "even for a brief moment." "Tsuka" originally meant the width of a fist, and came to express a short span of time.
Fifth line, "a o wasurasu na": "do not forget me." "Wasurasu" is "wasuru" with the honorific "su," and "na" is prohibitive, pressing the plea home firmly.
Source: Manyoshu
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