Futatsu naki koi o shi sureba tsune no obi o mie musubu beku aga mi wa narinu

二つなき恋をしすれば常の帯を
三重結ぶべく我が身はなりぬ

Roma-ji: Futatsu naki koi o shi sureba tsune no obi o mie musubu beku aga mi wa narinu
English Translation: Since I love with a love
that has no equal anywhere,
the sash I always wore
would now go three times round me,
so wasted have I become
Meaning: Because I am in the grip of a love beyond compare, I have grown so thin that my usual sash could be tied three times around me.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems 3273

Headnote: "Envoy"
This is the envoy to the chōka (3272). Suffering a love beyond compare, the speaker has grown so thin that the usual sash would go three times around. The chōka sings of being unable to stand or sit and of thoughts in disarray ever since hearing that the villagers had roped off the little field long cherished in the heart—a lament, it is said, for a beloved taken by another. The idea of a slackening sash as a sign of pining is thought to come from “The Grotto of the Immortals,” and it echoes 3262 of this book.
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, “futatsu naki,” means “without a second,” first stating the depth of the love.
In the second line, “shi” is an emphatic particle and “sureba” a realized condition: “because I am in love.”
The third line, “tsune no obi o,” means “my everyday sash,” offered as the measure of bodily change; it is a hypermetric line.
The fourth line, “mie musubu beku,” means “so that it could be tied three times around,” stressing the wasted body through exaggeration.
The closing line, “aga mi wa narinu,” means “my body has become so,” the perfective “nu” stating the outcome of love decisively.
Source: Manyoshu
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