Sawatari no tego ni iyukiai akagoma ga agaki o hayami koto towazu kinu

左和多里の手児にい行き逢ひ赤駒が
足掻きを速み言問はず来ぬ

Roma-ji: Sawatari no tego ni iyukiai akagoma ga agaki o hayami koto towazu kinu
English Translation: At Sawatari
I came upon a maiden there,
but my chestnut horse
was so quick in its pacing,
I came on without a word.
Meaning: I came upon the girl of Sawatari, but my chestnut horse was so swift of foot that I passed without a word.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3540

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
He met the girl of Sawatari on the road, but his chestnut horse was so quick that he passed by without speaking, the singer regrets. The fleeting encounter and the disappointment of letting it slip are expressed.
It is one of the love exchanges, as the horse poems continue. Sawatari is a place of unknown location, thought by some to be in Kōzuke. After 3534 and 3536, it again sings of a chestnut horse.
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, "sawatari no": A place of unknown location.
Second line, "tego ni iyukiai": "Tego" is a girl, and "i" a prefix: I came upon a girl. The line is hypermetric.
Third line, "akagoma ga": A chestnut horse, the same word as in 3534 and 3536.
Fourth line, "agaki o hayami": "Agaki" is the horse's pace, and "o ... mi" gives the reason: because it was quick.
Final line, "koto towazu kinu": "Koto tou" is speaking to someone: I came away without a word.
Source: Manyoshu
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