The nagamureba mystery

THE #NAGAMUREBA MYSTERY
and why this post is SOOO late
#waka #bungo #heian #japanese poetry

Okay apart from having to finish a project I got stuck on one word
ONE ANNOYING RARE #BUNGO WORD

Here's me thinking #nagamureba was a potential conditional passive of #nagameru in some wierd BUNGO spelling but it just didnt fit and then finally the other day I try one more search parameter combination and discover the verb #nagamuru !

So finally my translation of #HyakuIsshu 81 by #fuji #sanesada

first the word for word

hototogisu                        japanese cuckoo summer kigo
nakitsuru kata wo            singing action not state
nagamureba                      looks and sounds like verb meaning look at intensely
                                          BUT MUREBA the singing pun on looking would have lasted longer
tada ariake no                    only (now implied?) it is dawn
tsuki zo nokoreru              the moon lingered

OR MAYBE

The Hototogisu singing has or should have lasted so long that now it is dawn and yet the moon has lingered on?

It sounds so much better in Japanese and rather more melancholy in English?

Note the sound pattern

hoToTogisu NakiTSuru kata wo Nagamureba Tada ariake no TSuki zo Nokoreru

Yes readers I do NOT have access to a copy of Morohashi but I do have McCullough
thought it was on google I found a couple of references to nagamuru as a verb.
There is no mention of this in Nelson either. Grumble.