Koromode ashige no uma no inaku koe kokoro are kamo tsune yu ke ni naku

衣手葦毛の馬のいなく声
心あれかも常ゆ異に鳴く

Roma-ji: Koromode ashige no uma no inaku koe kokoro are kamo tsune yu ke ni naku
English Translation: Sleeve-edge—
the dappled-gray horse neighs,
and in its voice,
as if it had a heart, it cries
unlike its usual cry
Meaning: The neighing of the dappled-gray horse—is it because it too has a heart that it cries so unlike its usual cry?
Commentary: Book Thirteen Elegies 3328

Headnote: "Envoy"
This is the envoy to the chōka (3327). It wonders whether the dappled-gray horse that has lost its master neighs so mournfully, unlike its usual cry, because a horse too has a heart. The chōka asks about the horses Prince Mino kept in his west and east stables: though they are fed grass and given water drawn for them, why does the dappled-gray horse neigh? It is taken as an elegy for Prince Mino, that is, Prince Minu, a member of the imperial family, father of Tachibana no Moroe, who died in the first year of Wadō. The technique of depicting the master’s death indirectly through the horse is striking.
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, “koromode” (sleeve), is said to be a pillow word for “ashige,” though how it connects is unknown; it is a deficient line of four syllables.
In the second line, “ashige” is the coat color of a horse with black or brown hairs mixed into white, taking up the chōka’s “dappled-gray horse.”
The third line, “inaku koe,” means “the neighing voice,” expressing in sound the grief of a horse bereft of its master.
The fourth line, “kokoro are kamo,” means “is it because it has a heart,” the perfective “are” with the interrogative “kamo” conjecturing a reason.
In the closing line, “yu” marks the standard of comparison and “ke ni” means especially: “it cries unlike its usual cry.”
Source: Manyoshu
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