Wabitsutsu wa nare dani kimi ni tokonare yo kawasanu yowa no makura nari tomo - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

わびつつは汝だに君に床馴れよ
交はさぬ夜半の枕なりとも

Roma-ji: Wabitsutsu wa nare dani kimi ni tokonare yo kawasanu yowa no makura nari tomo
English Translation: While I languish here,
at least you, grow used to
lying in her bed,
though you are a pillow for
nights we do not share
Meaning: While I languish here, at least you, little lion, grow used to her bed—even though you are a pillow for nights we never share.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 900

Headnote: "Sent hidden deep in the mouth of a lion carved beneath a Chinese-style pillow, when it was hard even to send letters to a woman with whom I had a secret affair"
This poem was sent hidden deep in the mouth of a lion fashioned beneath a Chinese-style pillow, since it was hard even to exchange letters with the woman with whom he was secretly intimate. While I languish, he says, at least you grow used to her bed, even as a pillow for nights we do not share. Calling to the lion on the pillow as "you," he wishes that though he himself cannot lie with her, at least the pillow may grow familiar with her bed. Along with the conceit of delivering the letter hidden in the lion's mouth, it conveys the poignancy of a love that cannot meet.
The author, "Provisional Major Counselor Saneie," was the son of Minister of the Right Fujiwara no Kinyoshi. He rose to Provisional Major Counselor, and his elder brother was Fujiwara no Sanesada, the Go-Tokudaiji Minister of the Left.
The next poem, 901, is the woman's reply, and the two form an exchange. The reply takes up "kawasanu yowa no" from the fourth line of this poem just as it is in its own second line.

First line, "wabitsutsu wa": "wabu" means to be troubled, and "tsutsu" a particle of continuation, "while I languish."
Second line, "nare dani kimi ni": "nare" is an address to the lion carved beneath the pillow. "Dani" marks a minimum, "at least you."
Third line, "tokonare yo": "tokonaru" means to grow used to a bed, here in the imperative as a call. It repeats the same sound "nare" as "nare," "you," in the second line. The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "kawasanu yowa no": "kawasu," exchanging pillows, means to sleep together, and "nu" is the negative auxiliary, "of the late nights we do not share." It is the same as the second line of the next poem, 901.
Fifth line, "makura nari tomo": "tomo" is a concessive supposition, "even though you are a pillow." It closes by pointing to the pillow itself with its lion.
Author: Fujiwara no Saneie
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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