Nochi tsui ni imo wa awamu to asatsuyu no inochi wa ikeri koi wa shigekedo

後つひに妹は逢はむと朝露の
命は生けり恋は繁けど

Roma-ji: Nochi tsui ni imo wa awamu to asatsuyu no inochi wa ikeri koi wa shigekedo
English Translation: "In the end, at last,
I will meet my love," I think,
and so this life,
fleeting as the morning dew,
lives on though love grows thick
Meaning: Thinking I will meet my beloved in the end, I keep alive this life as fleeting as the morning dew, though my longing grows ever thicker.
Commentary: Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts through Things 3040

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts through Things"
By thinking of meeting the beloved one day, the poet keeps alive a life as fleeting as morning dew. The third in the dew series, it tells how hope of reunion sustains a life as fragile as dew, the same idea as poems 2868 and 2904 in this book.
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, "nochi tsui ni," means "later, in the end."
Line two, "imo wa awamu to," means "thinking I will meet her."
Line three, "asatsuyu no," means "as fleeting as morning dew," leading to "inochi," life, and continuing the dew of the two preceding poems.
Line four, "inochi wa ikeri," means "my life goes on," and the poem pauses here.
Line five, "koi wa shigekedo," means "though love grows thick," showing the will to live on through the pain.
Author: Unknown
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Yūbe okite ashita wa kenuru shiratsuyu no kenubeki koi mo are wa suru kamo
Next Poem: Asana sana kusa no ue shiroku oku tsuyu no kenaba tomo ni to iishi kimi wa mo