Kaku nomi shi aiomowazu araba amakumo no yoso ni zo kimi wa arubeku arikeru

かくのみし相思はずあらば天雲の
外にぞ君はあるべくありける

Roma-ji: Kaku nomi shi aiomowazu araba amakumo no yoso ni zo kimi wa arubeku arikeru
English Translation: If it is to be
that we do not love each other,
like the clouds of heaven
far away from me, my love,
you ought to have remained
Meaning: If we were never to love each other more than this, you should have stayed far away from me, like the clouds in the sky.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems 3259

Headnote: "Envoy"
This is the envoy to the chōka (3258). Taking up the chōka’s lament—waiting on though the year has turned and no messenger comes, until with nightfall even her sleeves are soaked through—she reproaches him: if they do not love each other, he should have remained from the first as remote as the far-off clouds. The pain of waiting turns into regret for the meeting itself.
The poet is unknown. Book Thirteen is built mainly of anonymous chōka and their envoys, and many of its poems preserve the air of old songs and ritual verse.

The first line, “kaku nomi shi,” means “only like this,” with “shi” an emphatic particle.
The second line, “aiomowazu araba,” means “if we do not love each other,” reproaching his coldness in conditional form.
The third line, “amakumo no,” means “like the clouds of heaven,” modifying “yoso” and serving as a figure of distance.
In the fourth line, “yoso” means a remote place unconnected to oneself, and the particle “zo” governs the closing line.
The closing line, “arubeku arikeru,” means “you should have been,” with “keri” taking the attributive “keru” in kakari-musubi with “zo,” sighing over a regret realized too late.
Source: Manyoshu
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