Kimi ga yuku michi no nagate o kuritatane yakihorobosamu ame no hi mogamo

君が行く道の長手を繰り畳ね
焼き滅ぼさむ天の火もがも

Roma-ji: Kimi ga yuku michi no nagate o kuritatane yakihorobosamu ame no hi mogamo
English Translation: The long road
that you are to travel,
reel it in and fold it,
if only there were fire from heaven
to burn it all away
Meaning: If only there were a fire from heaven to reel in and fold up the long road you must travel, and burn it all to nothing.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Exchange Poems of Nakatomi no Yakamori and Sano no Otogami no Otome 3724

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems exchanged between Nakatomi no Ason Yakamori and Sano no Otogami no Otome"
She wishes there were a fire from heaven that would reel in and fold up the long road Yakamori must travel and burn it away. With the bold conceit, put directly into words with intense passion, that if the road itself vanished they need not part, it is one of the most celebrated of all the Man'yōshū's love poems. It has long been highly praised as showing the intensity of a woman's love.
The author, Sano no Otogami no Otome, was a lady-in-waiting of low rank known as a nyoju, serving in the palace storehouse office; she is also written Sano no Chigami no Otome.
A left note reads "the above four poems were composed by the young woman on the point of parting"; the four poems from 3723 to 3726 of this book were made by the young woman as she faced parting from Yakamori. The latter half of this book contains sixty-three poems exchanged between Nakatomi no Yakamori and Sano no Otogami no Otome. According to the book's table of contents, when Yakamori took as his wife the young woman, a lady-in-waiting of the palace storehouse office, he was exiled to Echizen Province by imperial decree. The place of exile is thought to be Ajimano in Echizen, near present-day Echizen City, Fukui Prefecture.

First line, "kimi ga yuku": Yakamori's going to his place of exile.
Second line, "michi no nagate o": "nagate" is a long stretch of road, the far road to Echizen.
Third line, "kuritatane": "kuritatanu" means to draw in as one reels thread and fold it up, an extraordinary conceit treating the road like cloth.
Fourth line, "yakihorobosamu": "mu" is the attributive of conjecture: which would burn it away, modifying "ame no hi" in the last line.
Fifth line, "ame no hi mogamo": "ame no hi" is fire falling from heaven, and "mogamo" a final particle of wishing: if only there were heavenly fire, the poem ends.
Author: Sano no Otogami no Otome
Source: Manyoshu
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