Ametsuchi no kami o mo ware wa inoriteki koi to iu mono wa katsute yamazukeri

天地の神をも我れは祈りてき
恋といふものはかつてやまずけり

Roma-ji: Ametsuchi no kami o mo ware wa inoriteki koi to iu mono wa katsute yamazukeri
English Translation: To heaven and earth,
to their gods, I too have prayed,
prayed with all my heart—
but love, this thing called love,
has never ceased at all
Meaning: I too have prayed to the gods of heaven and earth—but love, I have found, is a thing that never stops.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Dialogue Poems 3308

Headnote: "Envoy"
This is the envoy to the maiden’s reply chōka (3307). She answers that she too prayed to the gods of heaven and earth, but love never ceased. To the man’s envoy (3306), “how does love ever cease—though I pray to the gods of heaven and earth,” she replies that she prayed likewise without avail, telling him their feelings are the same. It is a model dialogue poem in which question and answer echo each other in the same words. The chōka says that for eight years—from the days of her trimmed girlhood hair until she grew past the age of the orange tree’s top branches—she has waited for his heart, long and deep as the bed of a river.
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, “ametsuchi no,” begins with the same words as the man’s envoy, taking up his question to answer it.
In the second line, “mo” in “kami o mo” implies “I as well as you,” corresponding to “ware wa” in the man’s envoy.
The third line, “inoriteki,” means “I did pray,” the perfective “tsu” and past “ki” showing it was already tried; the poem breaks here.
The fourth line, “koi to iu mono wa,” means “this thing called love,” speaking of love in general; it is hypermetric.
In the closing line, “katsute” with a negative means “not at all,” and “keri” is an exclamation of realization, ending on the discovery that love never stops; it too is hypermetric.
Source: Manyoshu
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