Like threads once lent
to the Weaver Maiden’s loom—
drawn out and joined thus,
shall this love endure so long,
stretching through the passing years?

Meaning

Like the threads once lent to the Weaver Maiden, drawn out and joined together, will this love continue on through the long years?

Commentary

Book Four Autumn Poems (Part One)

This poem was composed on the night of the seventh day of the seventh month.

“The threads lent to the Weaver Maiden” refers to the custom at Tanabata in which women offer threads, praying for skill in sewing and weaving, here likened to lending them to Orihime.

“Threads of the year” forms an associated image with thread, suggesting something that continues for a long time.
The poem expresses the idea that the love of Hikoboshi and Orihime may endure through the long passage of years.

Author

Oshikochi no Mitsune

Source

Kokin Wakashu

Other

That pledged heart— how cruel it seems, that of hers; for Tanabata, to meet but once a year— can such a meeting be called meeting?
Year after year though they are said to meet thus— at Tanabata, the nights they lie together are but few in number.
The one who comes tonight— I will not meet with him; like Tanabata, I might be left to wait so long through such enduring time.
Now it must be so— as we part from one another, at Heaven’s River, before I even cross it, my sleeves are already wet.

Like threads once lent to the Weaver Maiden’s loom— drawn out and joined thus, shall this love endure so long, stretching through the passing years?

Like threads once lent
to the Weaver Maiden’s loom—
drawn out and joined thus,
shall this love endure so long,
stretching through the passing years?