Akanesasu hiru wa monomoi nubatama no yoru wa sugara ni ne nomi shi nakayu

あかねさす昼は物思ひぬばたまの
夜はすがらに音のみし泣かゆ

Roma-ji: Akanesasu hiru wa monomoi nubatama no yoru wa sugara ni ne nomi shi nakayu
English Translation: In the madder-red
daylight I brood in thought,
and through the jet-black
nights from dusk to dawn
I can only weep aloud
Meaning: By day, in the madder-red light, I sink in brooding; through the black night until dawn, I can do nothing but weep aloud.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Exchange Poems of Nakatomi no Yakamori and Sano no Otogami no Otome 3732

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems exchanged between Nakatomi no Ason Yakamori and Sano no Otogami no Otome"
He sings of the pain of longing for his wife day and night: by day he broods, and all through the night he can only weep aloud. Through the parallel phrases with pillow words, "akanesasu hiru" and "nubatama no yoru," it shows light and dark, day and night, all covered by lament. Within an ordered form, unceasing grief is expressed.
The author, Nakatomi no Yakamori, was a son of Nakatomi no Azumahito, from the Nakatomi clan in charge of the rites of the gods. He was exiled to Echizen Province for an offense, but was later pardoned and returned to the capital.
A left note reads "the above fourteen poems are by Nakatomi no Ason Yakamori"; the fourteen poems from 3731 to 3744 of this book were sent by Yakamori to the young woman from his place of exile. 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, "akanesasu": glowing madder-red, a pillow word for "hiru" (day).
Second line, "hiru wa monomoi": by day brooding in thought; the upper and lower phrases form a parallel of day and night.
Third line, "nubatama no": the black seed of the blackberry lily, a pillow word for "night" from its blackness, paired with the first line.
Fourth line, "yoru wa sugara ni": "sugara" means from beginning to end: all night long.
Fifth line, "ne nomi shi nakayu": "ne" is the sound of weeping, "shi" emphatic, and "yu" a spontaneous auxiliary: I cannot help but weep aloud, the poem ends.
Author: Nakatomi no Yakamori
Source: Manyoshu
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