Tama no o no taetaru koi no midarenaba shinamaku nomi zo mata mo awazu shite

玉の緒の絶えたる恋の乱れなば
死なまくのみぞまたも逢はずして

Roma-ji: Tama no o no taetaru koi no midarenaba shinamaku nomi zo mata mo awazu shite
English Translation: If, like a jewel cord,
this love of ours that has snapped
falls into disarray,
there is nothing left but death,
never once to meet again
Meaning: If I am thrown into turmoil by a love that has broken off like a snapped cord of jewels, nothing remains but to die, without ever meeting again.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2789

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
If the heart falls into turmoil over a love broken off like a snapped cord of jewels, there is nothing left but to die without meeting again: so the speaker laments. The despair of a love that has ended is laid over the image of jewels scattering from a broken cord and sung as a grief deep enough to think of death.
In the sequence on the cord of jewels, this poem shares the words "tae" and "midare" with "tama no o no taete midare na" in the preceding poem. Where that poem wished to fall into disorder by its own will, this one grieves over the fate of a love already broken, using the same words for a different moment.
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, "tama no o no": a pillow word attached to "tae." Following the preceding poem, it evokes the cord that threads jewels snapping.
Second line, "taetaru koi no": "of a love that has broken off." "Taru" is the attributive form of the continuative "tari," describing a bond already severed; it takes up "taete" from the preceding poem.
Third line, "midarenaba": "if I fall into turmoil." "Na" is the irrealis form of the perfective "nu," and "ba" marks a supposition. "Midare" follows naturally from the image of jewels scattering from a broken cord.
Fourth line, "shinamaku nomi zo": "there is only dying." "Shinamaku" is the nominalized form of "shinamu," stressed by the particle "zo," though its concluding form is omitted. A pause falls here, and the line stands in inversion with the last.
Fifth line, "mata mo awazu shite": "without meeting again." Placed last through inversion, it leaves a strong impression of the bitterness of never meeting again.
Source: Manyoshu
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