Tashika naru tsukai o nami to kokoro o zo tsukai ni yarishi ime ni mieki ya

確かなる使をなみと心をぞ
使に遣りし夢に見えきや

Roma-ji: Tashika naru tsukai o nami to kokoro o zo tsukai ni yarishi ime ni mieki ya
English Translation: Having no messenger
whom I could truly trust,
I sent my very heart
as messenger to you;
did it appear in your dreams
Meaning: Having no messenger I could rely on, I sent my own heart as my messenger; did it appear to you in your dreams?
Commentary: Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts Directly 2874

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts Directly"
Having no trustworthy messenger, the poet sent his own heart as one, and now asks whether it appeared in the beloved's dreams. It is a witty idea, based on the belief that the soul could leave the body, travel to the beloved, and appear in their dreams.
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, "tashika naru," means "reliable."
Line two, "tsukai o nami to," means "since there is no messenger," "nami" being the "mi" form of "nashi."
Line three, "kokoro o zo": the particle "zo" is concluded by the attributive "yarishi" in line four.
Line four, "tsukai ni yarishi," means "I sent it as a messenger," and the poem pauses here.
Line five, "ime ni mieki ya," asks "did it appear in your dreams?" Poem 3111 in this book ends with the same line, treating appearance in dreams as proof of love.
Author: Unknown
Source: Manyoshu
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