Omokata no wasuremu shida wa ōnoro ni tanabiku kumo o mitsutsu shinowamu

面形の忘れむしだは大野ろに
たなびく雲を見つつ偲はむ

Roma-ji: Omokata no wasuremu shida wa ōnoro ni tanabiku kumo o mitsutsu shinowamu
English Translation: This face, this form—
should a time come I forget,
on the great moorland
the trailing clouds I will watch,
and remember you, my love.
Meaning: When I begin to forget your face, I will gaze at the clouds trailing over the wide moor and remember you.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3520

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
When he begins to forget his beloved's face, the singer will look at the clouds trailing over the wide moor and remember her. As if answering the woman's urging "mitsutsu shinowase" in 3515, it closes the cloud sequence.
It is one of the love exchanges and the last of the cloud sequence that began with 3510. Its first half closely resembles 3515, and its last line also echoes "mitsutsu shinowamo" in 3516.
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, "omokata no": "Omokata" is one's face and features.
Second line, "wasuremu shida wa": "Shida" is an eastern word for time, the same line as in 3515.
Third line, "ōnoro ni": "Ōnoro" is a wide moor, with the eastern suffix "ro."
Fourth line, "tanabiku kumo o": Trailing clouds, the same words as in 3511 and 3516.
Final line, "mitsutsu shinowamu": "I will remember while watching," answering "shinowase" in 3515 and "shinowamo" in 3516, and closing the cloud sequence.
Source: Manyoshu
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