Asu yori wa Inamu no kawa no idete inaba tomareru are wa koitsutsu ya aramu

明日よりはいなむの川の出でて去なば
留まれる我れは恋ひつつやあらむ

Roma-ji: Asu yori wa Inamu no kawa no idete inaba tomareru are wa koitsutsu ya aramu
English Translation: From tomorrow on,
like the Inamu River's name,
if you go away,
will I, who must stay behind,
spend my days in longing
Meaning: From tomorrow, if you go away, like the Inamu River whose name means "going," will I, left behind, spend my days longing for you?
Commentary: Book Twelve Poems Lamenting Parting 3198

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems Lamenting Parting"
Leading from the name of the Inamu River to "inamu," to go away, a woman worries that once her lover leaves tomorrow, she, left behind, will go on longing. Within the wordplay on the place name lies anxiety before parting.
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, "asu yori wa," means "from tomorrow."
Line two, "Inamu no kawa no," is thought to refer to the lower Kako River in Hyōgo Prefecture, echoing "inamu," to go away.
Line three, "idete inaba," means "if you set out and go," a hypermetric line of six syllables.
Line four, "tomareru are wa," means "I, who remain behind." Compared with "tomarinishi hito" in poem 3179 in this book, the roles of the one leaving and the one left are reversed.
Line five, "koitsutsu ya aramu," means "will I spend my days longing?", a hypermetric line of eight syllables.
Author: Unknown
Source: Manyoshu
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