Namidagawa mi mo uku bakari nagaruredo kienu wa hito no omoi narikeri - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

涙川身もうくばかり流るれど
消えぬは人のおもひなりけり

Roma-ji: Namidagawa mi mo uku bakari nagaruredo kienu wa hito no omoi narikeri
English Translation: The river of tears
flows so that my very self
is set afloat, yet
what will not be quenched at all
is the fire of my longing
Meaning: The river of my tears runs so high that it could float me away, yet what it cannot quench is the fire of my longing for you.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 1060

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the second of two poems by Motozane. Though the river of tears flows so high the body floats, what is not quenched is the fire of longing, water and fire set against each other. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Fujiwara no Motozane," continues from the preceding poem and was a poet of the mid-Heian period. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals, and his personal collection is the Motozane Shū.

The first line, "namidagawa," means tears flowing like a river.
In the second line, "uku" pivots between floating and "uku," wretched.
The third line, "nagaruredo," is concessive: though it flows, and it turns to the lower verse.
The fourth line, "kienu wa hito no," means "what does not go out is my longing for you."
In the last line, "omoi" pivots between longing and "hi," fire. The water of "namidagawa" and "nagaru" is set against the fire of "omoi" and "kienu," showing a fire of love that tears enough to float the body cannot quench. From the frozen winter pond of the preceding poem, the water changes into a flowing river of tears, in a second poem by the same author.
Author: Fujiwara no Motozane
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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