Ozukuba no shigeki ko no ma yo tatsu tori no me yu ka na o mimu sanezaranaku ni

小筑波の茂き木の間よ立つ鳥の
目ゆか汝を見むさ寝ざらなくに

Roma-ji: Ozukuba no shigeki ko no ma yo tatsu tori no me yu ka na o mimu sanezaranaku ni
English Translation: From Little Tsukuba,
from between the thick-set trees
a bird flies away:
must I see you only so, in glimpses,
we who have lain side by side?
Meaning: Like a bird flying up from the thick trees of Little Tsukuba, must I see you only in a fleeting glance—we who have slept together?
Commentary: Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3396

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
Like a bird flying from among the thick trees of Mount Tsukuba, will they part with no more than a glance, though they have shared a bed? The bird gone in an instant mirrors a reluctant heart.
It is one of the Hitachi poems and the last of the three "Little Tsukuba" poems beginning with 3394.
The poet is unknown. The Azuma uta are thought to have been sung among the people of the eastern provinces, and they are marked by plain, open-hearted expression mixed with local dialect.

First line, "ozukuba no": The third "Little Tsukuba," as poems set on the same mountain continue.
Second line, "shigeki ko no ma yo": "Yo" marks passage: through the gaps of the thick trees.
Third line, "tatsu tori no": A bird taking flight; the first three lines form a preface leading to "me."
Fourth line, "me yu ka na o mimu": "Me yu" means only with the eyes, and "ka" is interrogative, answered by "mu."
Final line, "sanezaranaku ni": "Zaranaku ni" is a double negative: it is not that we did not sleep together.
Source: Manyoshu
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