Awanaku mo ushi to omoeba iyamashi ni hitogoto shigeku kikoekuru kamo

逢はなくも憂しと思へばいや増しに
人言繁く聞こえ来るかも

Roma-ji: Awanaku mo ushi to omoeba iyamashi ni hitogoto shigeku kikoekuru kamo
English Translation: Not meeting you
is pain enough, I think,
yet more and more
the gossip of the people
comes thick into my ears
Meaning: Not meeting you is painful enough, and yet the gossip grows thicker and thicker in my ears.
Commentary: Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts Directly 2872

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts Directly"
The poet laments that, on top of the pain of not meeting, the gossip grows ever louder. It speaks of a double suffering: sorrow at separation and the scrutiny of the world.
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, "awanaku mo," is the nominalized form of "awazu," meaning "not meeting, too."
Line two, "ushi to omoeba," means "while I think it painful."
Line three, "iyamashi ni," means "more and more."
Line four, "hitogoto shigeku," means "the gossip thick," taking up again the theme of gossip that recurs throughout this book.
Line five, "kikoekuru kamo," means "how it reaches my ears," lamenting gossip that adds to the pain.
Author: Unknown
Source: Manyoshu
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