Wagimoko ni a ga koishinaba sowae kamo kami ni ōsemu kokoro shirazute

我妹子に我が恋ひ死なばそわへかも
神に負ほせむ心知らずて

Roma-ji: Wagimoko ni a ga koishinaba sowae kamo kami ni ōsemu kokoro shirazute
English Translation: If for my darling
I should die of love for her,
would she, then, perhaps,
lay the blame upon the gods,
never knowing my true heart?
Meaning: If I should die of love for my darling, would she blame it on the gods' curse, never knowing my heart?
Commentary: Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3566

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
If he should die of longing for his beloved, the singer wonders, would she blame it on a god's curse without knowing his heart? The pain of unrequited love and a feeling tinged with reproach are both expressed.
It is one of the love exchanges and the last of them; the frontier guards' poems begin with the next. "Sowae" is an obscure word, and its meaning is unsettled.
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, "wagimoko ni": "Wagimoko" is an intimate word for one's beloved.
Second line, "a ga koishinaba": "If I die of love," with "naba" suppositional.
Third line, "sowae kamo": "Sowae" is obscure, read by some as "in that way"; "kamo" asks a question.
Fourth line, "kami ni ōsemu": "Ōsu" is to lay blame upon: to blame the gods' curse.
Final line, "kokoro shirazute": "Zute" is an eastern negative: not knowing my heart, given at the end by inversion.
Source: Manyoshu
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