Haru no hi no uraganashiki ni okureite kimi ni koitsutsu utsushikeme ya mo

春の日のうら悲しきに後れ居て
君に恋ひつつうつしけめやも

Roma-ji: Haru no hi no uraganashiki ni okureite kimi ni koitsutsu utsushikeme ya mo
English Translation: In the spring days
when the heart feels sad within,
left behind alone,
longing for you, my lord,
how could I stay sane
Meaning: Left behind in these spring days when the heart grows sad, longing for you, how could I keep my senses?
Commentary: Book Fifteen Exchange Poems of Nakatomi no Yakamori and Sano no Otogami no Otome 3752

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems exchanged between Nakatomi no Ason Yakamori and Sano no Otogami no Otome"
She asks how she could keep her senses, left behind in the melancholy days of spring, longing for him. The sense that the mild spring days only sink the heart further heightens the loneliness of one left behind. Yakamori's exile is thought to have taken place in spring, and the mood of the season is overlaid with the grief of parting.
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, "haru no hi no": of the spring days, setting the mood of the season.
Second line, "uraganashiki ni": "ura" means heart: in a time when the heart is vaguely sad.
Third line, "okureite": "okuru" means to be left behind: remaining left behind.
Fourth line, "kimi ni koitsutsu": while longing for you.
Fifth line, "utsushikeme ya mo": "utsushi" is an adjective meaning sane, "keme" regarded as an old realis form, and "ya mo" rhetorical: could I stay sane? Surely not, the poem ends.
Author: Sano no Otogami no Otome
Source: Manyoshu
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