Awashima no awaji to omou imo ni are ya yasui mo nezute a ga koiwataru

粟島の逢はじと思ふ妹にあれや
安寐も寝ずて我が恋ひわたる

Roma-ji: Awashima no awaji to omou imo ni are ya yasui mo nezute a ga koiwataru
English Translation: Like Awa Isle,
is she a love who thinks
not to meet with me,
that with no restful sleep
I go on longing for her
Meaning: Is my wife, like the name of Awashima, one who means never to meet me? Surely not; yet I go on longing for her, unable to sleep in peace.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Poems of the Envoys to Silla 3633

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Eight poems composed when passing Marifu Bay in Kuga District, Suō Province"
From the name Awashima he draws out "awaji" (will not meet), lamenting: my wife is not one who means never to meet me, so why do I go on longing for her, unable to sleep in peace? Awashima, which in 3631, two poems before, could only be yearned for from afar, here becomes the occasion for speaking of his love for his wife. It uses a technique typical of travel poems, turning the sound of a place name into the thought of love.
According to the headnote, this is one of eight poems composed when passing Marifu Bay in Kuga District, Suō Province, thought to be the coast of present-day Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture. The author is not named.

First line, "Awashima no": from the sound "awa" in Awashima, a preface leading into "awaji" in the second line.
Second line, "awaji to omou": "ji" is an auxiliary of negative intention: who thinks not to meet.
Third line, "imo ni are ya": "ya" is interrogative and rhetorical: is it because she is a wife who means not to meet? Surely not. The line has six syllables, hypermetric, and the poem breaks after the third line.
Fourth line, "yasui mo nezute": "yasui" is restful sleep: without even sleeping in peace.
Fifth line, "a ga koiwataru": "wataru" means to continue through time: I go on longing, the poem ends.
Source: Manyoshu
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