Hari wa aredo imo shi nakereba tsukeme ya to ware o nayamashi tayuru himo no o

針はあれど妹しなければ付けめやと
我れを悩まし絶ゆる紐の緒

Roma-ji: Hari wa aredo imo shi nakereba tsukeme ya to ware o nayamashi tayuru himo no o
English Translation: There is a needle,
but with my wife away,
"can you sew me on?"
it taunts me and torments me,
this cord that's snapped in two
Meaning: I have a needle, but with my wife gone, the broken cord of my robe seems to taunt me, "Can you sew me back on?"
Commentary: Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts through Things 2982

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts through Things"
A man says that with his wife away he cannot sew on the broken cord, though he has a needle, and the cord seems to torment him. The loneliness of a man living apart from his wife is depicted with humor by personifying the cord.
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, "hari wa aredo," means "though there is a needle."
Line two, "imo shi nakereba," means "since my wife is not here," with "shi" emphatic.
Line three, "tsukeme ya to," means "can you sew it on?", personifying the cord as if it were mocking him.
Line four, "ware o nayamashi," means "tormenting me."
Line five, "tayuru himo no o," means "the cord that breaks," ending on a noun and humorously portraying the loneliness of a man with no wife to mend for him.
Author: Unknown
Source: Manyoshu
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