Waga yado no matsu no ha mitsutsu are matamu haya kaerimase koishinanu to ni

我が宿の松の葉見つつ我れ待たむ
早帰りませ恋ひ死なぬとに

Roma-ji: Waga yado no matsu no ha mitsutsu are matamu haya kaerimase koishinanu to ni
English Translation: Gazing at the needles
of the pine beside my house
I shall wait for you;
come back soon, my lord,
before I die of longing
Meaning: I shall wait for you, gazing at the needles of the pine by my house; come home soon, before I die of longing.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Exchange Poems of Nakatomi no Yakamori and Sano no Otogami no Otome 3747

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems exchanged between Nakatomi no Ason Yakamori and Sano no Otogami no Otome"
She sings that she will wait gazing at the pine needles of her house, and asks him to come home soon, before she dies of longing. Overlaying "matsu" (wait) on "matsu" (pine), she shows her resolve to keep waiting with a heart unchanging as the evergreen pine. The lower phrase, "haya kaerimase koishinanu to ni," is the same as in the next poem, 3748, the two poems together intensifying her wish for his return. "Haya kaerimase" is also the same phrase as in 3582 of this book, a poem by an envoy's wife in the first half.
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 nine poems are by the young woman"; the nine poems from 3745 to 3753 of this book were sent by the young woman in answer to Yakamori's poems. 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, "waga yado no": "yado" is one's house or garden, here the young woman's home.
Second line, "matsu no ha mitsutsu": gazing at the needles of the evergreen pine; "matsu" (pine) echoes "matsu" (wait) in the third line.
Third line, "are matamu": "mu" is intention: I shall wait. The poem breaks after the third line.
Fourth line, "haya kaerimase": "mase" is an honorific imperative: please come back soon. The same as the last line of 3582 of this book.
Fifth line, "koishinanu to ni": "to ni" means while not yet: before I die of longing. The same lower phrase as in the next poem, 3748.
Author: Sano no Otogami no Otome
Source: Manyoshu
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