Aratama no toshi no o nagaku awazaredo keshiki kokoro o a ga mowanaku ni

あらたまの年の緒長く逢はざれど
異しき心を我が思はなくに

Roma-ji: Aratama no toshi no o nagaku awazaredo keshiki kokoro o a ga mowanaku ni
English Translation: Though the long thread
of the new-jeweled years
has kept us apart,
no wavering of the heart
have I ever felt
Meaning: Though the long thread of years has kept us from meeting, I have never harbored any thought of changing my heart.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Exchange Poems of Nakatomi no Yakamori and Sano no Otogami no Otome 3775

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems exchanged between Nakatomi no Ason Yakamori and Sano no Otogami no Otome"
Yakamori vows to the young woman that though they have not met for long years, his heart has not changed at all. As the exile drags on past the turn of the year, he dispels her fear that the length of time apart might bring a change of heart. The lower phrase, "keshiki kokoro o a ga mowanaku ni," is the same as that of 3588 of this book, the vow an envoy to Silla made to his wife at departure in the first half, so that the vows of men living apart overlap across the two halves of the book.
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 two poems are by Nakatomi no Ason Yakamori"; 3775 and 3776 of this book were sent by Yakamori to the young woman. 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, "aratama no": a pillow word for "toshi" (year), "tsuki" (month), and the like.
Second line, "toshi no o nagaku": "toshi no o" likens the continuation of years to a thread: long years.
Third line, "awazaredo": "zare" is the realis of the negative "zu": though we do not meet.
Fourth line, "keshiki kokoro o": "keshi" means out of the ordinary, here a changing, fickle heart.
Fifth line, "a ga mowanaku ni": "naku" is the nominalized negative and "ni" exclamatory: though I have never felt it. The same lower phrase as in 3588 of this book.
Author: Nakatomi no Yakamori
Source: Manyoshu
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