Sanegani wa tare tomo nume do okitsu mo no nabikishi kimi ga koto matsu ware o

さ寝がには誰れとも寝めど沖つ藻の
靡きし君が言待つ我れを

Roma-ji: Sanegani wa tare tomo nume do okitsu mo no nabikishi kimi ga koto matsu ware o
English Translation: Merely to lie down
with anyone at all, yes,
I might sleep; but like
the seaweed from the offing
you bent to me: I await your word
Meaning: If it were only a matter of sharing a bed, I might sleep with anyone at all; yet it is a word from you, who leaned toward me like seaweed in the offing, that I am waiting for.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2782

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
If it were only a matter of sharing a bed, anyone might do, the woman says, yet it is the word of the man with whom she exchanged her heart that she truly awaits. By setting a deliberately careless remark first, the poem makes the strength of her longing for one person stand out all the more.
Within the category "Expressing Feelings through Things," this belongs to a sequence of poems on seaweed that has run since poem 2778. The preceding poem matched the depth of love to seaweed growing in the depths of the sea, while this poem takes seaweed swaying with the waves, "okitsu mo no nabikishi," as an image of two hearts drawn together. It also echoes poem 2780, "nabikimo no kokoro wa imo ni yori ni shi mono o," in linking swaying seaweed with a heart that leans toward another.
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, "sanegani wa": understood as "as for sleeping together," though the formation of the phrase is disputed and it is considered difficult. "Sa" is a prefix, and the particle "wa" singles out the matter of sleeping together.
Second line, "tare tomo nume do": "I might sleep with anyone." "Me" is the conditional form of the conjectural auxiliary "mu," and the particle "do" carries the line on as a concession.
Third line, "okitsu mo no": "like the seaweed of the offing," calling up "nabiki" (swaying) from the image of seaweed rocking with the waves. "Tsu" is an old connective particle meaning "of."
Fourth line, "nabikishi kimi ga": "you who leaned toward me." "Shi" is the attributive form of the past auxiliary "ki," showing that the two once gave their hearts to each other.
Fifth line, "koto matsu ware o": "I, who wait for your word." "Koto" means a word or message from the other, and "o" closes the poem with a note of deep feeling.
Source: Manyoshu
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