Kusamakura tabi ni shibashiba kaku nomi ya kimi o yaritsutsu aga koioramu

草枕旅にしばしばかくのみや
君を遣りつつ我が恋ひ居らむ

Roma-ji: Kusamakura tabi ni shibashiba kaku nomi ya kimi o yaritsutsu aga koioramu
English Translation: Grass for a pillow,
off on journeys time and again—
is it always so,
sending you away from me
that I must stay here longing
Meaning: Must it always be like this—sending you off again and again on your journeys, while I stay behind longing for you?
Commentary: Book Seventeen 3936

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Twelve poems sent by Lady Heguri to Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi, Governor of Etchū"
Must she go on like this, sending him off again and again on journeys and staying behind in longing?—a poem of the lament of one who sees a lover off. This is one of twelve poems that Lady Heguri entrusted to messengers from time to time and sent to Yakamochi, who had left the capital as Governor of Etchū. It expresses the pain of one who can only see her lover off each time he sets out on official journeys.
The poet, Lady Heguri, was a woman of the Heguri clan whose life is otherwise unknown. She was one of the women who exchanged love poems with Yakamochi.
The left note reads, "The above twelve poems were sent from time to time by passing messengers; they were not sent all at once."

First line, "kusamakura": a pillow word for journeys; the next poem, 3937, opens with the same line.
Second line, "tabi ni shibashiba": "on journeys time and again," thinking of a lover often traveling as an official.
Third line, "kaku nomi ya": "always like this?" ya is an interrogative particle bound to ramu in the last line. Poem 3938 also opens with "kaku nomi ya," so the two repeat the same lament.
Fourth line, "kimi o yaritsutsu": "sending you off each time."
Fifth line, "aga koioramu": "must I stay longing?"—the same as the second line of 3938.
Author: Lady Heguri
Source: Manyoshu
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