Imo ga tame inochi nokoseri karikomo no omoi midarete shinu beki mono o

妹がため命残せり刈り薦の
思ひ乱れて死ぬべきものを

Roma-ji: Imo ga tame inochi nokoseri karikomo no omoi midarete shinu beki mono o
English Translation: For the sake of you,
my beloved, I live on,
though like cut rushes
my thoughts lie tangled and strewn,
and I ought by now to die
Meaning: It is for you, my love, that I keep myself alive, though, my thoughts tangled like cut rushes, I ought by now to have died.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2764

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
Though his thoughts are so tangled that he might well have died of love, he says he keeps himself alive for his beloved's sake. Even as he cries out a pain of love strong enough to kill, the poem reveals a man's true heart, living on for the one he loves.
This is a poem on rushes, overlaying the way cut rushes fall into disarray on the turmoil of the heart. The next poem, 2765, shares exactly the same last three lines, "karikomo no omoi midarete shinu beki mono o"; where this poem keeps life alive for the beloved, the next says it would be better to die than go on longing, so the two form a pair using the same lower verse in opposite spirits.
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, "imo ga tame": "for the sake of my beloved." "Imo" is a man's affectionate word for his lover or wife, and the line gives at once the reason for staying alive.
Second line, "inochi nokoseri": "I have kept my life," with a pause here. The auxiliary "ri" marks a continuing state, the present condition of living on without dying.
Third line, "karikomo no": a pillow word attaching to "midaru" (to be in disarray), since cut rushes scatter easily. As befits its category, the poem overlays the rushes on the disordered heart.
Fourth line, "omoi midarete": "my thoughts in disarray." Taking up the pillow word, it expresses the anguish of a heart thrown into turmoil by love.
Fifth line, "shinu beki mono o": "though I ought to die." "Beshi" expresses what should naturally happen, and "mono o" a concessive exclamation that turns the thought back to "inochi nokoseri."
Source: Manyoshu
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