Akatoki no mezamashigusa to kore o dani mitsutsu imashite ware to shinowase

暁の目覚まし草とこれをだに
見つついまして我れと偲はせ

Roma-ji: Akatoki no mezamashigusa to kore o dani mitsutsu imashite ware to shinowase
English Translation: At break of dawn,
as something to wake you,
at least take this,
and as you look upon it,
think of it as me
Meaning: As something to rouse you at dawn, at least keep this and look at it, and remember it as me.
Commentary: Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts through Things 3061

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts through Things"
A woman gives her lover a keepsake and asks him to look at it when he wakes at dawn and to think of it as her. It reveals the heart of a woman entrusting a keepsake.
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, "akatoki no," means "of the dawn."
Line two, "mezamashigusa to," means "as something to wake you," a token of comfort.
Line three, "kore o dani," means "at least this," the gift the woman gives the man.
Line four, "mitsutsu imashite," means "living on while looking at it."
Line five, "ware to shinowase," means "remember it as me," showing a woman entrusting a keepsake.
Author: Unknown
Source: Manyoshu
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