Hito no ko no kanashike shida wa hamasudori anayumu koma no oshikeku mo nashi

人の子の愛しけしだは浜洲鳥
足悩む駒の惜しけくもなし

Roma-ji: Hito no ko no kanashike shida wa hamasudori anayumu koma no oshikeku mo nashi
English Translation: Someone's daughter dear—
in the times I long for her,
like the sandbar birds,
though my horse should go lame,
I would not spare him at all.
Meaning: When I long for someone's dear daughter, I do not mind if my horse goes lame, like the birds that stumble on the sandbars.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3533

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
When he longs for his beloved, the singer would not mind his horse going lame as he hurries to her. The single-minded passion of a love that drives a horse to exhaustion is expressed.
It is one of the love exchanges, as the horse poems continue. "Hamasudori" are birds walking on sandbars; since they struggle with their footing, the word attaches to "lame feet."
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, "hito no ko no": Someone's daughter, a girl of another household.
Second line, "kanashike shida wa": "Kanashike" is "kanashiki" and "shida" an eastern word for time.
Third line, "hamasudori": Birds on the sandbars, a pillow word for "lame."
Fourth line, "anayumu koma no": "Anayumu" means to go lame; the line is hypermetric with eight syllables.
Final line, "oshikeku mo nashi": "Oshikeku" means regret: I would not grudge it at all.
Source: Manyoshu
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