Nubatama no kurokami nurete awayuki no furu ni ya kimasu kokoda koureba

ぬばたまの黒髪濡れて沫雪の
降るにや来ますここだ恋ふれば

Roma-ji: Nubatama no kurokami nurete awayuki no furu ni ya kimasu kokoda koureba
English Translation: With your raven hair
all drenched, through the falling snow
soft as melting foam,
did you come to me at last?—
for I have loved you so.
Meaning: Did you come through the falling foam-soft snow, your black hair drenched? It must be because I have loved you so dearly.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Poems with Tales of Origin and Miscellaneous Poems 3805

Headnote: "The wife, lying in bed, heard her husband's poem, raised her head from the pillow, and answered him in reply; one poem."
The wife answers her husband, asking whether he came through the falling snow with his black hair drenched, because she loved him so much. Bedridden, she pours her joy at his return and her long yearning into a frail voice.
According to the headnote, the sick wife heard her husband's poem, raised her head from the pillow, and replied. The left note suggests that since he returned in snowy winter after years away, she spoke of foam-soft snow. With the preceding poem, 3804, it forms an exchange.
The poet is the maiden of the tale; her name is not recorded.

First line, "nubatama no," is a pillow word for "black."
Second line, "kurokami nurete," means "your black hair drenched," imagining her husband hurrying to her through the snow.
Third line, "awayuki no," means "of the soft snow," snow as light and fleeting as foam. The left note guesses the image came from his return in winter.
Fourth line, "furu ni ya kimasu," means "did you come through the falling snow?" The particle ya marks a question, and the poem pauses here.
Final line, "kokoda koureba," means "because I loved you so." Inverted to give the reason for the fourth line, it answers her husband's "so deeply I loved you" with her own longing.
Source: Manyoshu
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