Yū sareba miyama o saranu ninogumo no aze ka taemu to iishi koro wa mo

夕さればみ山を去らぬ布雲の
あぜか絶えむと言ひし子ろはも

Roma-ji: Yū sareba miyama o saranu ninogumo no aze ka taemu to iishi koro wa mo
English Translation: When evening comes,
never leaving the mountainside,
the cloud like trailing cloth:
"Why should we ever part?" she said—
and that girl, where is she now?
Meaning: Like the cloth-like cloud that never leaves the mountain when evening falls, she said, "How could we ever part?"—oh, that girl!
Commentary: Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3513

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
Like the cloth-like cloud that clings to the mountain at evening, the girl once said, "How could we ever part?" and the singer remembers her. Fond memory of a past vow is tinged with loneliness at their present distance.
It is one of the love exchanges and the fourth in the cloud sequence. Like 3434 from Kōzuke, it uses the phrase "aze ka tae."
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, "yū sareba": "When evening comes," the hour when clouds settle on the hills.
Second line, "miyama o saranu": "Not leaving the mountain," clouds lingering there.
Third line, "ninogumo no": "Ninogumo" is cloud trailing like cloth; the first three lines form a preface.
Fourth line, "aze ka taemu to": "Aze ka" is an eastern "why": how could we part—her vow.
Final line, "iishi koro wa mo": "Wa mo" is exclamatory: the girl who said so, where is she now?
Source: Manyoshu
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