Shibatsuki no miurasaki naru netsukogusa aimizu araba are koime ya mo

芝付の御宇良崎なるねつこ草
相見ずあらば我れ恋ひめやも

Roma-ji: Shibatsuki no miurasaki naru netsukogusa aimizu araba are koime ya mo
English Translation: At Shibatsuki,
on the cape of Miurasaki,
the netsuko grass:
had we never met, you and I,
would I be pining so for you?
Meaning: Like the netsuko grass on Miurasaki Cape at Shibatsuki—had I never met you, would I be longing so?
Commentary: Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3508

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
Had he never met the girl, who is like the netsuko grass of Miurasaki Cape, the singer would not suffer so in love. The joy of meeting and the pain it brought are both packed into the rhetorical ending.
It is one of the love exchanges. Miurasaki is thought by some to be a cape on the Miura Peninsula in Sagami. Netsuko grass is thought by some to be the pasqueflower.
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, "shibatsuki no": A place name of unknown location.
Second line, "miurasaki naru": Thought by some to be a cape of Miura; "naru" marks location.
Third line, "netsukogusa": The name of a grass, thought by some to be the pasqueflower; some say its sound "ne" suggests sleep. The first three lines form a preface.
Fourth line, "aimizu araba": "Had we not met," a hypermetric line.
Final line, "are koime ya mo": "Me ya mo" is rhetorical: would I have loved so? No.
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Tani sebami mine ni haitaru tamakazura taemu no kokoro waga mowanaku ni
Next Poem: Takubusuma shirayamakaze no nenaedomo koro ga osoki no aro koso eshimo