classic waka stream

秋かけていひしながらもあらなくに
木の葉ふりしくえにこそありけれ
Roma-ji

Aki kakete iishi nagara mo aranaku ni
ko no ha furishiku e ni koso arikere

English Translation
Though through the autumn
I said it without such thought,
It was never so—
Yet like leaves that fall and lie
Our bond proved shallow indeed.
Meaning
Though I spoke of autumn, I never meant the word as a play on ‘to grow weary.’ Yet in the end our bond has proved shallow, like an inlet where fallen leaves gather and make the water shallow.
Commentary
96. Fallen Leaves Lie Thick

There was once a man who continued to court a woman, speaking to her again and again as the months passed. The woman, not being made of stone or wood, was gradually moved by his devotion and began to feel drawn toward him.

Around the fifteenth day of the sixth month she had begun to incline toward him, but in the heat of summer a few sores appeared on her body. Using this as a reason, she told the man that they should wait and meet when autumn came.

When autumn arrived, however, there were people who spoke against her going to see the man. Then her elder brother suddenly came to take her back home.

The poem was written by the woman on a red maple leaf and sent to the man.

After she had gone away, no one knew where she was or how she lived. The man, it is said, clapped his hands in reverse, wishing that she would not find happiness, and thus cursed her.

Perhaps the woman’s heart had been stirred only because she had been earnestly pursued for such a long time, and in truth she did not love the man. When her brother came to take her home, she left without hesitation. The man did not reply with a poem but instead cursed her, which makes this episode somewhat unusual within The Tales of Ise.
Source
Ise Monogatari
Other