A ga koi wa masaka mo kanashi kusamakura tago no irino no oku mo kanashimo

我が恋はまさかも愛し草枕
多胡の入野の奥も愛しも

Roma-ji: A ga koi wa masaka mo kanashi kusamakura tago no irino no oku mo kanashimo
English Translation: This love of mine—
it is dear to me right now,
grass-for-pillow Tago,
as the inner moor runs deep,
so in time to come, still dear.
Meaning: This love of mine is dear to me now, and as the moor of Tago runs deep inland, it will be dear in days to come as well.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3403

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
The singer's love is dear now, and like the deep inner moor of Tago it will be dear in the future too. Setting "now" against "the depths," the future, the poem affirms a love that goes on unchanged.
It is one of the Kōzuke poems. Tago is Tago District in Kōzuke, thought to be near present-day Yoshii in Takasaki, Gunma, the site of the famous Tago stele.
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, "a ga koi wa": "My love," naming the theme at the outset.
Second line, "masaka mo kanashi": "Masaka" means now, the present; the poem pauses here.
Third line, "kusamakura": A pillow word for journeys, here attached to "Tago," said to link through the "ta" of "tabi."
Fourth line, "tago no irino no": The moor reaching deep inland at Tago, forming a preface leading to "oku."
Final line, "oku mo kanashimo": "Oku" means the future, paired with "masaka" in the second line; "mo" is exclamatory.
Source: Manyoshu
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