Asana sana kusa no ue shiroku oku tsuyu no kenaba tomo ni to iishi kimi wa mo

朝な朝な草の上白く置く露の
消なばともにと言ひし君はも

Roma-ji: Asana sana kusa no ue shiroku oku tsuyu no kenaba tomo ni to iishi kimi wa mo
English Translation: Morning after morning
dew lies white upon the grass,
"if we must fade away,
let us fade away together,"
you said so, and now, ah, you
Meaning: Like the dew that lies white upon the grass every morning, "If we fade, let us fade together," you said; and now, ah, where are you?
Commentary: Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts through Things 3041

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts through Things"
A woman remembers one who said, like the dew lying on the grass each morning, "If we fade, let us fade together." The deep sigh of the final line is said to carry the tone of an elegy for someone already gone.
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, "asana sana," means "morning after morning."
Line two, "kusa no ue shiroku," means "white upon the grass," a hypermetric line of eight syllables.
Line three, "oku tsuyu no," means "of the settling dew," and the lines up to here form an introduction leading to "ke," to vanish.
Line four, "kenaba tomo ni to," means "if we vanish, together," words of a vow to die together.
Line five, "iishi kimi wa mo," means "you who said so, ah," with "wa mo" expressing a deep sigh for one no longer here.
Author: Unknown
Source: Manyoshu
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