Momo ni chi ni hito wa iu tomo tsukikusa no utsurou kokoro ware motame ya mo

百に千に人は言ふとも月草の
うつろふ心我れ持ためやも

Roma-ji: Momo ni chi ni hito wa iu tomo tsukikusa no utsurou kokoro ware motame ya mo
English Translation: Though people say
a hundred, a thousand things,
a heart that fades
like the dayflower's blue,
would I ever have such a heart
Meaning: No matter what people may say, a hundred or a thousand times, would I ever have a heart that fades like the dayflower?
Commentary: Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts through Things 3059

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts through Things"
The poet vows that no matter how much people gossip, the heart will not fade like the dayflower. Using the same phrase as the preceding poem, "tsukikusa no utsurou kokoro," the two poems together repeat the vow of constancy.
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, "momo ni chi ni," means "a hundred, a thousand times," on and on.
Line two, "hito wa iu tomo," means "though people say," referring to gossip and slander.
Line three, "tsukikusa no," is a pillow word for "utsurou," the same word as in the preceding poem.
Line four, "utsurou kokoro," means "a fading heart," the same line as in the preceding poem.
Line five, "ware motame ya mo," is a rhetorical question, "would I have one? Never."
Author: Unknown
Source: Manyoshu
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