Ashihiki no yamadori no o no shidario no naganagashi yo o hitori ka mo nemu

あしひきの山鳥の尾のしだり尾の
長々し夜をひとりかも寝む

Roma-ji: Ashihiki no yamadori no o no shidario no naganagashi yo o hitori ka mo nemu
English Translation: Foot-wearying
mountain pheasant's trailing tail,
its long drooping tail:
through this long, long night of mine
must I lie and sleep alone?
Meaning: Through a night as long as the drooping tail of the mountain pheasant, must I sleep all alone?
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2802

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
This poem is the variant recorded in the left note to poem 2802 immediately before it, introduced with the words "a certain book's poem says." Through a long, long night like the long drooping tail of the mountain pheasant, the speaker wonders whether one must sleep alone, apart from the beloved, and sings of the loneliness of such a night.
Where the main poem first states the heart in "omoedomo omoi mo kanetsu" before moving into its preface, the variant sets the preface from its very first line, adds "shidario no" in the third line to dwell again on the tail's length, and closes with the lament of sleeping alone, "hitori ka mo nemu." The repeated "no," as if tracing the length of the tail, makes one feel the length of the night itself.
This poem was included in the Shuishu as a work of Kakinomoto no Hitomaro and, chosen as the third poem of the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, became widely known.
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, "ashihiki no": a pillow word attached to "mountain"; here it leads into the "yama" of "yamadori."
Second line, "yamadori no o no": "the tail of the mountain pheasant." The male of this bird is known for its long tail, and the phrase is the same as the fourth line of the main poem.
Third line, "shidario no": "like the long drooping tail." The first three lines form a preface, the length of the tail leading into "naganagashi." The repeated "no" gives the line its distinctive music.
Fourth line, "naganagashi yo o": "this long, long night." It corresponds to the main poem's final line, "nagaki kono yo o," and the doubled "naganagashi" stresses the length of the night still more.
Fifth line, "hitori ka mo nemu": "must I sleep alone?" The particle "ka mo" is answered by the conjectural "mu" in its attributive form, a kakari-musubi construction, and the poem closes on the lament of sleeping alone.
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Omoedomo omoi mo kanetsu ashihiki no yamadori no o no nagaki kono yo o
Next Poem: Satonaka ni naku naru kake no yobitatete itaku wa nakanu komorizuma wa mo