Kawakami no nejiro takagaya aya ni aya ni sane sanete koso koto ni denishi ka

川上の根白高萱あやにあやに
さ寝さ寝てこそ言に出にしか

Roma-ji: Kawakami no nejiro takagaya aya ni aya ni sane sanete koso koto ni denishi ka
English Translation: By the riverside
tall rushes with their white roots—
so wildly, so wildly
we lay together night on night,
that now the talk has risen.
Meaning: Like the tall white-rooted rushes by the river, we lay together so recklessly, night after night, that the gossip has broken out.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3497

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
As the white roots of the riverside rushes lie exposed to view, the lovers lay together so recklessly that their affair became the talk of others. It shows a bashful defiance, as if to say the gossip was only natural.
It is one of the love exchanges. The doubled words "aya ni aya ni" and "sane sanete" give it the bouncing rhythm of folk song.
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, "kawakami no": "Kawakami" means the riverside.
Second line, "nejiro takagaya": Tall rushes with white roots; because the roots show white, they are thought to lead to "aya," plain to see. The first two lines form a preface.
Third line, "aya ni aya ni": "Aya ni" means wildly, beyond reason, doubled for emphasis; the line is hypermetric with six syllables.
Fourth line, "sane sanete koso": "Sane sanete" means lying together again and again, and "koso" is a binding particle.
Final line, "koto ni denishi ka": "Shika" is the perfective completing "koso": that is why the talk arose.
Source: Manyoshu
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