Imo ga nuru toko no atari ni iwagukuru mizu ni mogamo yo irite nemaku mo

妹が寝る床のあたりに岩ぐくる
水にもがもよ入りて寝まくも

Roma-ji: Imo ga nuru toko no atari ni iwagukuru mizu ni mogamo yo irite nemaku mo
English Translation: Near the bed where
my beloved lies asleep,
through the rocks it creeps—
oh, to be the water there,
slip right in and lie with her!
Meaning: Oh, to be water slipping through the rocks to the place where my darling sleeps—I would slip right in and lie with her!
Commentary: Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3554

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
If only he could become water trickling between the rocks to the bed where his beloved sleeps, he could slip in and lie beside her. Envy of water that can enter anywhere expresses his aching wish to be near her.
It is one of the love exchanges. It shares its last line, "irite nemaku mo," with the preceding poem, setting water seeping through rock against that poem's tide. Like "kumo ni mogamo na" in 3510, it wishes to become a thing of nature.
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, "imo ga nuru": "Where my darling sleeps," marking her bed.
Second line, "toko no atari ni": "Near her bed."
Third line, "iwagukuru": "Iwagukuru" is flowing through the gaps in rocks.
Fourth line, "mizu ni mogamo yo": "Mogamo yo" expresses a wish: if only I were water. The same idea as "kumo ni mogamo na" in 3510.
Final line, "irite nemaku mo": The same last line as the preceding poem: I would slip in and lie with her.
Source: Manyoshu
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