Ima wa wa wa shinamu yo wagimo awazu shite omoiwatareba yasukeku mo nashi

今は我は死なむよ我妹逢はずして
思ひわたれば安けくもなし

Roma-ji: Ima wa wa wa shinamu yo wagimo awazu shite omoiwatareba yasukeku mo nashi
English Translation: Now I shall die,
I tell you, my darling;
without meeting you,
as I go on longing still
there is no peace for me
Meaning: Now I may as well die, my love; going on longing for you without ever meeting, I have no peace at all.
Commentary: Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts Directly 2869

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts Directly"
Tormented by longing without meeting, a man calls out to his beloved that he might as well die. The exaggerated talk of death shows the intensity of love's suffering.
The poet is unknown. Book Twelve, titled the second part of "Love Poems Exchanged Old and New," gathers love poems by people whose names have not come down to us, arranged by category.

Line one, "ima wa wa wa," means "now, I," a hypermetric line of six syllables. Poem 2936 in this book sings the same phrase from a woman's side, "ima wa wa wa shinamu yo waga se," forming a male and female pair.
Line two, "shinamu yo wagimo," means "I shall die, my darling," and the poem pauses here.
Line three, "awazu shite," means "without meeting."
Line four, "omoiwatareba," means "as I go on longing."
Line five, "yasukeku mo nashi," uses the nominalized form of "yasushi," meaning "there is no peace."
Author: Unknown
Source: Manyoshu
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