Kizo koso ba koro to saneshi ka kumo no ue yu nakiyuku tazu no matōku omoyu

昨夜こそば子ろとさ寝しか雲の上ゆ
鳴き行く鶴の間遠く思ほゆ

Roma-ji: Kizo koso ba koro to saneshi ka kumo no ue yu nakiyuku tazu no matōku omoyu
English Translation: Only last night, yes,
did I sleep beside my girl,
yet like the cranes
crying high above the clouds,
it seems so far, so long ago.
Meaning: Only last night I slept with my girl, yet like the cranes crying far above the clouds, it already feels long ago.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3522

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
Though he lay with his beloved only last night, it already seems long ago, as distant as the cries of cranes passing above the clouds. The restless heart after a tryst is laid over the cranes receding high into the sky.
It is one of the love exchanges. After the crow of the preceding poem, it sings of cranes, and so does the next poem.
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, "kizo koso ba": "Kizo" means last night, and "koso ba" intensifies "koso."
Second line, "koro to saneshi ka": "Shika" is the perfective completing "koso," flowing on with contrast: though I slept with her.
Third line, "kumo no ue yu": "Yu" marks passage: over the clouds. The line is hypermetric.
Fourth line, "nakiyuku tazu no": Cranes crying as they fly; the next poem also sings of cranes. The third and fourth lines lead to "matōku."
Final line, "matōku omoyu": "It seems far off, long ago."
Source: Manyoshu
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