Kono koro wa koitsutsu mo aramu tamakushige akete ochi yori sube nakarubeshi

このころは恋ひつつもあらむ玉櫛笥
明けてをちよりすべなかるべし

Roma-ji: Kono koro wa koitsutsu mo aramu tamakushige akete ochi yori sube nakarubeshi
English Translation: For these few days
I can bear my longing still,
but like a comb box
once the dawn has opened
there will be no help at all
Meaning: For now I can still bear my longing, but once the night has opened like a jeweled comb box and you are gone, there will be nothing I can do.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Exchange Poems of Nakatomi no Yakamori and Sano no Otogami no Otome 3726

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems exchanged between Nakatomi no Ason Yakamori and Sano no Otogami no Otome"
She sings that for now she can still bear her longing, but once the night breaks and Yakamori departs, there will be nothing she can do. On the eve of the morning of parting, she foresees the unbearable days that will follow. The young woman's four parting poems close with this one, and the sequence moves on to the poems Yakamori composed on the road.
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, "kono koro wa": for the time being, meaning the present before the parting.
Second line, "koitsutsu mo aramu": "mu" is conjecture: I can manage, longing as I do. The poem breaks after the second line.
Third line, "tamakushige": a beautiful box for combs and the like; since its lid is opened (aku), it is a pillow word for "aku" (to dawn).
Fourth line, "akete ochi yori": "ochi" means beyond, thereafter: from after the night has dawned.
Fifth line, "sube nakarubeshi": "sube" is a means and "beshi" conjecture: there will be no help for it, the poem ends.
Author: Sano no Otogami no Otome
Source: Manyoshu
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