Takuhire no shirahama nami no yori mo aezu araburu imo ni koitsutsu zo oru

栲領布の白浜波の寄りもあへず
荒ぶる妹に恋ひつつぞ居る

Roma-ji: Takuhire no shirahama nami no yori mo aezu araburu imo ni koitsutsu zo oru
English Translation: Like a white mulberry scarf,
the waves upon the white beach
never reach the shore:
for my love, so cold and wild,
I go on longing still
Meaning: Like the waves on the white beach that break before they can reach the shore, my beloved will not come near me and keeps herself aloof, yet still I go on longing for her.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2822

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Questions and Answers"
Like waves on a white beach that break before they can reach the shore, the beloved refuses to draw near and stays aloof, and yet the speaker goes on longing for her. The roughness of the waves is laid over her coldness, voicing a man's lament at a love that receives no return.
By the left note "the two poems above," this is the question paired with the next poem, 2823. That poem uses the same "takuhire no shirahama nami no" to retort that it is in fact he who never draws near, so that the two lovers reproach each other over whether the waves come in or not.
The original also notes a variant giving the last line as "kouru koro kamo" ("in these days of longing"). Here the main text, "koitsutsu zo oru," is followed.
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, "takuhire no": a pillow word attached to "white." Because scarves woven from mulberry fiber are white, it calls up the whiteness of the beach.
Second line, "shirahama nami no": "the waves on the white beach." The first two lines form a preface leading to "yori" ("draw near"), with "no" meaning "like."
Third line, "yori mo aezu": "unable to come all the way in." It overlays the waves breaking before they reach the beach with the beloved who will not come near. The line has six syllables, one in excess.
Fourth line, "araburu imo ni": "for my beloved who is cold and distant." "Araburu" also echoes the rough waves, binding the scene of the preface to the beloved's manner.
Fifth line, "koitsutsu zo oru": "I go on longing." "Tsutsu" shows continuation, and the emphatic particle "zo" is answered by the attributive "oru," a kakari-musubi construction.
Source: Manyoshu
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