A Hundred Verses from Old Japan (The Hyakunin-isshu), tr. by William N. Porter, [1909], at sacred-texts.com
MY doubt about his constancy
Is difficult to bear;
Tangled this morning are my thoughts,
As is my long black hair.
I wonder—Does he care?
Lady Horikawa was the daughter of the First Adviser of State, Sane-kyo, who lived about the year 1142. In this verse she is anxiously pondering, how long her lover will continue to be true to her; and she discovers, that her ideas on the subject are as tangled and disordered as her hair is.