Wagimoko ni kouru ni are wa tamakiharu mijikaki inochi mo oshikeku mo nashi

我妹子に恋ふるに我れはたまきはる
短き命も惜しけくもなし

Roma-ji: Wagimoko ni kouru ni are wa tamakiharu mijikaki inochi mo oshikeku mo nashi
English Translation: Longing for my love,
for my dear wife, I
hold this life,
short as it is,
not at all dear to me
Meaning: So deeply do I long for my dear wife that I do not grudge even this brief life of mine.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Exchange Poems of Nakatomi no Yakamori and Sano no Otogami no Otome 3744

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems exchanged between Nakatomi no Ason Yakamori and Sano no Otogami no Otome"
He sings that, so deeply does he long for his dear wife, he does not grudge even his short life. Whereas an earlier poem hoped that as long as he lived they could meet, this one turns to the fierce feeling that for love he would not grudge his life. It is the last of the fourteen poems marked by the left note as Yakamori's, which close with this intense passion.
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, "wagimoko ni": for my dear wife.
Second line, "kouru ni are wa": I, longing so for her.
Third line, "tamakiharu": a pillow word for "inochi" (life), "yo" (world), and the like.
Fourth line, "mijikaki inochi mo": even my short life; an eight-syllable hypermetric line.
Fifth line, "oshikeku mo nashi": "oshikeku" is the nominalized form of "oshi" (regrettable): I do not grudge it at all, the poem ends.
Author: Nakatomi no Yakamori
Source: Manyoshu
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