Okureite koiba kurushimo asagari no kimi ga yumi ni mo naramashi mono o

後れ居て恋ひば苦しも朝猟の
君が弓にもならましものを

Roma-ji: Okureite koiba kurushimo asagari no kimi ga yumi ni mo naramashi mono o
English Translation: Left behind to stay,
how it pains me to long for you!
For the morning hunt,
if only I could be your bow,
carried with you, my dear lord.
Meaning: Left behind, longing for you is such pain—if only I could be the bow you take to the morning hunt.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3568

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems of the Frontier Guards"
Left behind after her husband's departure, a wife finds longing too painful and wishes she could be the bow he takes on his morning hunt. Answering her husband's wish in the preceding poem, she replies that she too would become a bow and go with him.
It is one of the frontier guards' poems, and the left note reads "the two poems above are a question and answer." To her husband's wish to make her the grip of his bow, she answers that she would become his bow herself, so the exchange echoes back and forth.
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, "okureite": "Left behind," the place of a wife who has seen her husband off.
Second line, "koiba kurushimo": "Longing is painful"; the poem pauses here.
Third line, "asagari no": The morning hunt, leading to the bow used for hunting.
Fourth line, "kimi ga yumi ni mo": "Even your bow," answering "azusa no yumi no yuzuka" in the preceding poem.
Final line, "naramashi mono o": "Mashi" is counterfactual: if only I could become it.
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Okite ikaba imo wa makanashi mochite yuku azusa no yumi no yuzuka ni mogamo
Next Poem: Sakimori ni tachishi asake no kanatode ni tabanare oshimi nakishi kora wa mo