Tameshi areba nagame wa sore to shirinagara obotsukanaki wa kokoro narikeri - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

例あればながめはそれと知りながら
おぼつかなきは心なりけり

Roma-ji: Tameshi areba nagame wa sore to shirinagara obotsukanaki wa kokoro narikeri
English Translation: There is a precedent,
so I know that gaze of yours
is for such a cause,
and yet what is still unclear
is where your heart is turned.
Meaning: Because there is a precedent, I know that the way you gaze, lost in thought, has that very cause; and yet what remains uncertain is your heart.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 1104

Headnote: "When the former Major Counselor Takafusa was a middle captain and went to the Right Bodyguards' riding ground on the day of the mounted archery, sent from a woman's carriage among the spectators."
This is the first poem of a sequence on "nagame," gazing lost in thought. The speaker says that, because there is a precedent, she knows why he gazes so pensively, yet his heart remains uncertain. According to the headnote, it was sent from a woman's carriage among the spectators when Fujiwara no Takafusa, then a middle captain, went to the Right Bodyguards' riding ground on the day of the mounted archery.
No author is named in the original; like the preceding poem, it is anonymous. According to the headnote, she was a woman in one of the spectators' carriages.
"Hiori" was the mounted archery held in the fifth month at the riding grounds of the Bodyguards. The Tales of Ise, episode 99, and the Kokinshū tell how on that day Ariwara no Narihira sent a woman in a carriage the poem "Not unseen, yet not truly seen, if I long for you, must I spend this day lost in gazing to no purpose?" and she replied, "Why say to no purpose, and sort out known from unknown? Love alone is the guide," and the "precedent" of this poem points to that story.

The first line, "tameshi areba," means "since there is a precedent," pointing to the exchange between Narihira and the woman on the day of the mounted archery.
The second line, "nagame wa sore to," means "that your gaze is for that reason." It takes up "nagamekurasamu" in Narihira's poem, "nagame" being the look of one lost in thoughts of love.
The third line, "shirinagara," means "though I know," leading on with a concessive turn.
The fourth line, "obotsukanaki wa," means "what is uncertain."
The last line, "kokoro narikeri," means "is your heart," with "keri" an exclamation of realization. Though she knows why he gazes, she cannot tell toward whom his thoughts are turned, and so she questions his heart.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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