A ga omo no wasuremu shida wa kuni haburi ne ni tatsu kumo o mitsutsu shinowase

我が面の忘れむしだは国はふり
嶺に立つ雲を見つつ偲はせ

Roma-ji: A ga omo no wasuremu shida wa kuni haburi ne ni tatsu kumo o mitsutsu shinowase
English Translation: This face of mine—
should a time come you forget,
look where clouds arise
from the land to stand on peaks,
and remember me, my love.
Meaning: When you begin to forget my face, look at the clouds that rise over the land and stand on the peaks, and remember me.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3515

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
A woman tells her departing lover that when he begins to forget her face he should look at the clouds rising on the peaks of their land and remember her. Making clouds a keepsake carries the wish to keep their hearts linked across distance.
It is one of the love exchanges and the sixth in the cloud sequence. Its first half closely resembles 3520, "omokata no wasuremu shida wa ōnoro ni tanabiku kumo o mitsutsu shinowamu," the two forming a pair from the side of the one who sends off and the one who departs.
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 omo no": "My face," addressed to the one who is leaving.
Second line, "wasuremu shida wa": "Shida" is an eastern word for time: when you begin to forget. The same line as in 3520.
Third line, "kuni haburi": "Haburi" is thought to mean clouds billowing up from the land.
Fourth line, "ne ni tatsu kumo o": Clouds standing on the peaks; the line is hypermetric with six syllables.
Final line, "mitsutsu shinowase": "Shinowase" means please remember me, an honorific imperative.
Source: Manyoshu
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