Ariarite nochi mo awamu to koto nomi o kataku iitsutsu au to wa nashi ni

ありありて後も逢はむと言のみを
堅く言ひつつ逢ふとはなしに

Roma-ji: Ariarite nochi mo awamu to koto nomi o kataku iitsutsu au to wa nashi ni
English Translation: "As time goes on,
later we shall surely meet,"
only words like these
you promise me so firmly,
but meeting, never once
Meaning: "In time we will meet," you keep firmly promising, but it is only words; we never actually meet.
Commentary: Book Twelve Dialogue Poems 3113

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Dialogue Poems"
A woman resents a lover who firmly promises they will meet in time but never actually comes. Breaking off mid-thought, she leaves her resentment lingering, and with the 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, "ariarite," means "living on as we are, as time goes by."
Line two, "nochi mo awamu to," means "that we will meet later."
Line three, "koto nomi o," means "only words."
Line four, "kataku iitsutsu," means "firmly promising."
Line five, "au to wa nashi ni," means "without ever meeting," breaking off to leave resentment toward empty promises lingering. It shares the spirit of "koto wa taezute" in poem 3074 in this book.
Author: Unknown
Source: Manyoshu
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