Tsurubami no awase no koromo ura ni seba ware shiime ya mo kimi ga kimasanu

橡の袷の衣裏にせば
我れ強ひめやも君が来まさぬ

Roma-ji: Tsurubami no awase no koromo ura ni seba ware shiime ya mo kimi ga kimasanu
English Translation: If like a lined robe
dyed in acorn-gray
you turn inside out,
would I ever press you so,
you who will not come to me
Meaning: If your heart has turned inside out like a lined robe dyed in acorn gray, would I ever force you to come, you who no longer visit me?
Commentary: Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts through Things 2965

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts through Things"
This is taken as a woman's poem of resentment: if her lover's heart has turned like a robe turned inside out, she will not force him to come. Interpretations vary, including how the first three lines connect to the rest.
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, "tsurubami no," refers to a robe of somber color dyed with a decoction of sawtooth oak acorns.
Line two, "awase no koromo," is a lined robe, which with line one leads to "ura," the inner side.
Line three, "ura ni seba," means "if turned inside out," taken as a figure for a change of heart, though interpretations vary.
Line four, "ware shiime ya mo," is a rhetorical question, "would I force you?"
Line five, "kimi ga kimasanu," means "that you do not come," inverted with line four.
Author: Unknown
Source: Manyoshu
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