Makuzu hau ono no asaji o kokoro yu mo hito hikame ya mo waga nakenaku ni

ま葛延ふ小野の浅茅を心ゆも
人引かめやも我がなけなくに

Roma-ji: Makuzu hau ono no asaji o kokoro yu mo hito hikame ya mo waga nakenaku ni
English Translation: Where the fine kudzu creeps,
the low reeds upon the moor:
at their own sweet will
would others pull them up? No,
for it is not that I'm not here
Meaning: Would anyone pull up at will the low reeds on the moor where the kudzu creeps? Never, for it is not as though I were not here.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2835

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Metaphorical Poems"
Would anyone pull up at will the low reeds on a moor overspread with kudzu, when the speaker is right there? The reeds stand for the beloved and the one who would pull them for a rival, and the poem expresses a proud, possessive resolve never to let another take the beloved while the speaker is present.
By the left note "the four poems above express feelings through grasses," this is the first of four poems on grasses, with poems 2836 through 2838. The material shifts from the fruit of the preceding poem to grasses, and poems on low reeds, sedge, and young greens follow in turn.
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, "makuzu hau": "where the kudzu creeps." "Ma" is an honorific prefix, and the line paints the moorland scene while modifying "ono" in the second line.
Second line, "ono no asaji o": "the low reeds of the moor." "O" in "ono" is a prefix, and the low reeds stand for the beloved.
Third line, "kokoro yu mo": "from the heart," here understood as "at will, as one pleases." "Yu" is an old case particle marking a starting point.
Fourth line, "hito hikame ya mo": "would others pull them up? Never." "Me" is the perfective form of the conjectural "mu," and "ya mo" is rhetorical, strongly asserting that the beloved will not be handed over to another.
Fifth line, "waga nakenaku ni": "though it is not that I am absent." "Nake" is an old irrealis form of the adjective "nashi," and with "naku ni" it adds that the speaker is in fact present, giving the reason for the upper lines by inversion.
Source: Manyoshu
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