Misora yuku na no oshikeku mo ware wa nashi awanu hi maneku toshi no henureba

み空行く名の惜しけくも我れはなし
逢はぬ日まねく年の経ぬれば

Roma-ji: Misora yuku na no oshikeku mo ware wa nashi awanu hi maneku toshi no henureba
English Translation: My name that travels
far across the sky
I no longer mind;
the days we do not meet are many,
and the years have passed us by
Meaning: I no longer care that my name spreads across the sky; so many days have passed without our meeting, and the years have gone by.
Commentary: Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts Directly 2879

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts Directly"
Now that so many days and years have passed without meeting, the poet no longer cares if rumors spread. The poem describes a state of mind in which the pain of separation has outweighed the fear of gossip.
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, "misora yuku," means "traveling across the sky," describing rumor spreading far and leading to "na," name.
Line two, "na no oshikeku mo," uses the nominalized form of "oshi," meaning "regret for my name." Poem 2984 in this book has the same expression, "na no oshikeku mo ware wa nashi."
Line three, "ware wa nashi," means "I have none," and the poem pauses here.
Line four, "awanu hi maneku": "maneku" means "many," so "with many days of not meeting."
Line five, "toshi no henureba," means "since the years have passed," giving the reason afterwards.
Author: Unknown
Source: Manyoshu
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