Yosome ni mo kimi ga sugata o miteba koso aga koi yamame inochi shinazu wa

外目にも君が姿を見てばこそ
我が恋やまめ命死なずは

Roma-ji: Yosome ni mo kimi ga sugata o miteba koso aga koi yamame inochi shinazu wa
English Translation: Even from afar,
if I could only glimpse
your form once more,
then my longing might be stilled,
if my life holds out till then
Meaning: If I could see your figure even from afar, then my longing might be eased, provided I live long enough to see it.
Commentary: Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts Directly 2883

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts Directly"
The poet thinks that a glimpse of the beloved, even from afar, might calm this love, but worries whether life will last until then. A variant gives the last two lines as "inochi ni mukau aga koi yamame," expressing a love staked against life itself.
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, "yosome ni mo," means "even from a distance."
Line two, "kimi ga sugata o," means "your figure."
Line three, "miteba koso," means "only if I could see," forming a kakari-musubi with the realis "yamame" in line four.
Line four, "aga koi yamame," means "my longing would cease." The variant "inochi ni mukau aga koi yamame" matches the last two lines of poem 2979 in this book.
Line five, "inochi shinazu wa," means "if my life does not end first," adding worry over whether life will last.
Author: Unknown
Source: Manyoshu
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