Shiraka tsuku yū wa hanamono koto koso ba itsu no maeda mo tsune wasuraene

しらかつく木綿は花もの言こそば
いつのまえだも常忘らえね

Roma-ji: Shiraka tsuku yū wa hanamono koto koso ba itsu no maeda mo tsune wasuraene
English Translation: White mulberry cloth
is a flower without fruit,
but your words, ah,
at no time, never once
can I forget them
Meaning: White mulberry cloth is a flower that bears no fruit, but your words I can never forget, at any time at all.
Commentary: Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts through Things 2996

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts through Things"
The poem is thought to contrast mulberry cloth, which looks like a flower but bears no fruit, with the beloved's words, which cannot be forgotten. It is a difficult poem, with various interpretations beginning with the meaning of line four.
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, "shiraka tsuku," meaning "bearing white hemp," is a pillow word for "yū," mulberry cloth.
Line two, "yū wa hanamono," is taken to mean "mulberry cloth is a flower without fruit."
Line three, "koto koso ba," means "your words, though," contrasting with line two.
Line four, "itsu no maeda mo," is of uncertain meaning; one view takes it as "at any time."
Line five, "tsune wasuraene," means "I can never forget," concluding in the realis form in answer to "koso" in line three.
Author: Unknown
Source: Manyoshu
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