Kimi kou to narumi no ura no hamahisagi shiorete nomi mo toshi o furu kana - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

君恋ふとなるみの浦の浜久木
しほれてのみも年を経るかな

Roma-ji: Kimi kou to narumi no ura no hamahisagi shiorete nomi mo toshi o furu kana
English Translation: Longing for you now,
like the hisagi on the shore
of Narumi Bay,
drooping, drenched and nothing more,
I pass the years, one by one.
Meaning: Having become one who longs for you, I pass the years only drooping and drenched with tears, like the hisagi trees on the shore of Narumi Bay, wilting in the spray of the tide.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 1085

Headnote: "Composed on the idea of 'Love Over Many Years.'"
This is the fifth poem of the group expressing hidden love through smoke and seaside imagery. Having become one who longs for the beloved, the speaker laments passing the years wilted with tears, like the hisagi trees on Narumi Bay. According to the headnote, it was composed on the topic "Love Over Many Years," that is, a love that has lasted a long time.
The author, "Toshiyori Ason," is Minamoto no Toshiyori. The son of Major Counselor Minamoto no Tsunenobu, he compiled the Kin'yōshū at the command of Retired Emperor Shirakawa.
Narumi Bay, in Owari Province (around Midori Ward, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture), is a poetic place-name, a tidal flat of ebb and flow where plovers and the like were sung.

The first line, "kimi kou to," means "in longing for you." The beloved is addressed as "kimi," and every image that follows is bound to that love.
In the second line, "narumi no ura no," "narumi" holds both "naru mi," to become one who longs, and the place-name Narumi.
The third line, "hamahisagi," is the hisagi tree growing on the shore; the lines up to here form a preface leading to "shiore" in the fourth line.
The fourth line, "shiorete nomi mo," means "only drooping and drenched," layering the hisagi wilting in the tide with the speaker wilting in tears.
The last line, "toshi o furu kana," means "I pass the years," the particle "kana" voicing a sigh and taking up the topic "Love Over Many Years." Poem 1114 in this book likewise ends with "kana" in "toshi no tsumorinuru kana," sighing over years piling up without a meeting.
Author: Minamoto no Toshiyori
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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