Kaku shitsutsu ari nagusamete tama no o no taete wakareba subenakarubeshi

かくしつつあり慰めて玉の緒の
絶えて別ればすべなかるべし

Roma-ji: Kaku shitsutsu ari nagusamete tama no o no taete wakareba subenakarubeshi
English Translation: Living on like this,
I find some comfort, but if,
like a string of jewels,
we should snap apart and part,
there will be nothing to be done
Meaning: Living on like this, I console myself somehow; but if, like a jewel string snapping, we were to part for good, there would be nothing left that I could do.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2826

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Questions and Answers"
For now the speaker gets by, finding comfort in their meetings, but if their bond should snap like a string of jewels and they part, there will be nothing to be done: the poem voices fear of parting. Even while feeling the present love to be fragile, it states plainly the dread of losing it.
By the left note "the two poems above," this is the question paired with the next poem, 2827. That poem answers that were the beloved a crimson flower, the speaker would dye it into a sleeve and carry it away, meeting this poem's fear of parting with the wish to keep the beloved close even when apart.
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, "kaku shitsutsu": "doing thus." "Tsutsu" shows continuation, indicating that their present way of meeting has gone on for some time.
Second line, "ari nagusamete": "passing the days consoling myself." "Ari" expresses living on in a given state, and the line shows the speaker somehow soothing a heart that is not satisfied.
Third line, "tama no o no": a pillow word attached to "taete" ("break off"). As the cord threading jewels snaps, so it calls up the breaking of their bond.
Fourth line, "taete wakareba": "if we break off and part." "Wakare" is the irrealis form of a lower bigrade verb, and with "ba" it states a hypothetical condition.
Fifth line, "subenakarubeshi": "there will be nothing to be done." "Subenashi" means to have no means, to be helpless, and the conjectural "beshi" foresees the bewilderment that would follow a parting.
Source: Manyoshu
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