Sato chikaku kimi ga narinaba koime ya to motona omoishi are zo kuyashiki

里近く君がなりなば恋ひめやと
もとな思ひし我れぞ悔しき

Roma-ji: Sato chikaku kimi ga narinaba koime ya to motona omoishi are zo kuyashiki
English Translation: If you came to live
near the village where I am,
would I still yearn so?
That is what I idly thought,
and how I regret it now
Meaning: I idly thought that if you came to live near my village I would no longer pine for you—and how I regret it now.
Commentary: Book Seventeen 3939

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Twelve poems sent by Lady Heguri to Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi, Governor of Etchū"
She regrets having thought, without reason, that if he were near she would no longer long for him—a poem of love that will not go as planned. 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 speaks of regret that the expectation of meeting when he was near proved wrong, and longing only grew.
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, "sato chikaku": "near my village."
Second line, "kimi ga narinaba": "if you came to be so," a hypothetical condition.
Third line, "koime ya to": meya is rhetorical—"would I yearn? surely not"—showing what she had supposed.
Fourth line, "motona omoishi": motona means "idly, for no reason." Poem 3942 in this book uses the same word in "motona sakitsutsu."
Fifth line, "are zo kuyashiki": zo with the attributive kuyashiki forms a binding, closing strongly: "it is I who regret it."
Author: Lady Heguri
Source: Manyoshu
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