Sube mo naki katakoi o su to konogoro ni waga shinubeki wa ime ni mieki ya

すべもなき片恋をすとこの頃に
我が死ぬべきは夢に見えきや

Roma-ji: Sube mo naki katakoi o su to konogoro ni waga shinubeki wa ime ni mieki ya
English Translation: In one-sided love
that nothing can relieve,
these days I am
about to die; did you see this
come to you in dreams
Meaning: I am in a hopeless one-sided love, near to dying these days; did that appear to you in your dreams?
Commentary: Book Twelve Dialogue Poems 3111

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Dialogue Poems"
A woman asks whether the image of herself, near death from hopeless one-sided love, appeared in her beloved's dreams. With the man's reply in the next poem, it forms a question-and-answer pair.
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, "sube mo naki," means "hopeless."
Line two, "katakoi o su to," means "being in one-sided love."
Line three, "konogoro ni," means "these days."
Line four, "waga shinubeki wa," means "that I am about to die."
Line five, "ime ni mieki ya," means "did it appear in your dreams?", the same final line as poem 2874 in this book.
Author: Unknown
Source: Manyoshu
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