Oka ni yose waga karu kaya no sanekaya no makoto nagoya wa nero toe na kamo

岡に寄せ我が刈る萱のさね萱の
まことなごやは寝ろとへなかも

Roma-ji: Oka ni yose waga karu kaya no sanekaya no makoto nagoya wa nero toe na kamo
English Translation: Gathered by the hill,
the reed grass that I cut down,
the fine sane reeds—
so truly soft and tender, she:
will she not say, "Lie with me"?
Meaning: Like the reeds I cut and gather by the hill—those fine soft reeds—will she, so truly tender, never say "Let us lie down"?
Commentary: Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3499

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
The singer wonders whether the girl, soft as the supple reeds he cuts on the hill, will ever say "let us lie together." It is a love song born of work, laying the feel of reeds over the girl's softness.
It is one of the love exchanges. Some think it was sung while cutting reeds.
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, "oka ni yose": "Drawing them toward the hill," gathering the reeds as they are cut.
Second line, "waga karu kaya no": "The reeds I cut."
Third line, "sanekaya no": "Sanekaya" is thought to be an honorific name for reeds, echoing "sane," to sleep together. The first three lines form a preface.
Fourth line, "makoto nagoya wa": "Nagoya" is something soft: the tender girl.
Final line, "nero toe na kamo": "Nero" is "neyo" and "toe" an eastern form of "to ie": will she not say "let us sleep"?
Source: Manyoshu
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