Kyō nareba hanahi hanahishi mayo kayumi omoishi koto wa kimi ni shi arikeri

今日なれば鼻ひ鼻ひし眉かゆみ
思ひしことは君にしありけり

Roma-ji: Kyō nareba hanahi hanahishi mayo kayumi omoishi koto wa kimi ni shi arikeri
English Translation: Because it was today
I sneezed and sneezed again
and my eyebrows itched;
what I had been thinking of
was you, I see it now
Meaning: So it was because today was the day that I kept sneezing and my eyebrows itched; what I had been thinking of was you all along.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2809

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Questions and Answers"
Answering the question of the preceding poem, a woman replies that it was precisely because he was coming today that she kept sneezing and her eyebrows itched, and that what she had been thinking of was him. Her joy that the omens came true and her heart that had gone on waiting are expressed without artifice.
As the left note "the two poems above" shows, this answering poem forms a pair with the preceding one. Where the preceding poem asked its question by listing omens, "mayone kaki" and "hanahi," this poem takes up the same omens directly in "hanahi hanahishi" and "mayo kayumi," showing the typical shape of a question-and-answer poem that answers by drawing in the words of the question.
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, "kyō nareba": "because it was today." "Nare" is the realis form of the copula "nari," and with "ba" it gives a definite reason: because today was the day you would come.
Second line, "hanahi hanahishi": "I sneezed and sneezed." Repeating "hanau" expresses sneezes coming one after another, taking up "hanahi himo toke" in the second line of the preceding poem.
Third line, "mayo kayumi": "my eyebrows itching." The stem of the adjective "kayushi" with the suffix "mi" expresses a reason. It answers "mayone kaki" in the first line of the preceding poem.
Fourth line, "omoishi koto wa": "what I had been thinking." "Shi" is the attributive form of the past auxiliary "ki," singled out by the particle "wa." It refers to her wondering what the omens might signify.
Fifth line, "kimi ni shi arikeri": "it was you." "Shi" is an emphatic particle and "keri" an auxiliary of sudden realization, filled with the joy of grasping at last what the omens meant.
Source: Manyoshu
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