Kuegoshi ni mugi hamu kouma no hatsuhatsu ni aimishi kora shi ayani kanashimo

くへ越しに麦食む小馬のはつはつに
相見し子らしあやに愛しも

Roma-ji: Kuegoshi ni mugi hamu kouma no hatsuhatsu ni aimishi kora shi ayani kanashimo
English Translation: Over the fence rail,
as the colt nibbles barley
just a little bit,
so I glimpsed her, just a bit—
and oh, how dear that girl is!
Meaning: Like the colt nibbling just a bit of barley over the fence, I saw her only for a moment—and oh, how dear that girl is!
Commentary: Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3537

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
Like a colt stretching its neck over the fence to nibble a little barley, the singer met the girl only briefly, and she is unbearably dear. A longing that grows precisely because the meeting was so brief is entrusted to the colt's gesture.
It is one of the love exchanges, as the horse poems continue. The left note gives a variant from another book: "umasegoshi mugi hamu koma no hatsuhatsu ni niihada fureshi koro shi kanashimo."
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, "kuegoshi ni": "Kue" is a fence or rail: over the fence.
Second line, "mugi hamu kouma no": A colt eating barley; the first two lines form a preface.
Third line, "hatsuhatsu ni": "Hatsuhatsu ni" means barely, for a glimpse.
Fourth line, "aimishi kora shi": "The girl I met for a moment," with "shi" intensifying.
Final line, "ayani kanashimo": "Ayani" means beyond reason, and "kanashimo" means how dear.
Source: Manyoshu
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