Tamazusa no kimi ga tsukai o machishi yo no nagori zo ima mo inenu yo no ōki

玉梓の君が使を待ちし夜の
なごりぞ今も寐ねぬ夜の多き

Roma-ji: Tamazusa no kimi ga tsukai o machishi yo no nagori zo ima mo inenu yo no ōki
English Translation: Your messenger
bearing the catalpa staff,
the nights I waited,
their lingering trace is why
even now I often cannot sleep
Meaning: It is the lingering trace of nights spent waiting for your messenger that still keeps me awake so many nights.
Commentary: Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts Directly 2945

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts Directly"
A woman says that the habit of staying up waiting for her lover's messenger remains, so that even now she has many sleepless nights. The loneliness of waiting that has become ingrained is quietly expressed.
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, "tamazusa no," is a pillow word for "tsukai," messenger; "tamazusa" is thought to be the catalpa staff carried by messengers bearing letters.
Line two, "kimi ga tsukai o," means "your messenger."
Line three, "machishi yo no," means "of the nights I waited."
Line four, "nagori zo ima mo": "nagori" means a lingering effect after something has passed, and "zo" is concluded by the attributive "ōki" in line five.
Line five, "inenu yo no ōki," means "many are the sleepless nights," expressing a loneliness in which waiting has become habit.
Author: Unknown
Source: Manyoshu
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