classic waka stream

涙川たぎつ心の早き瀬を
しがらみかけて堰く袖ぞなき
Roma-ji

Namidagawa tagitsu kokoro no hayaki se o shigarami kakete seku sode zo naki

English Translation
River of my tears,
the swift shoals of a heart
seething as they rush:
there is no sleeve to set a weir
and hold their torrent back.
Meaning
In the river of my tears, the swift shoals of a heart that seethes and rushes cannot be held back; I have no sleeve to set a weir across them.
Commentary
Book Twelve Love Poems II 1120

Headnote: "When presenting a hundred-poem sequence."
This is the first poem of a sequence on sleeves and tears. The speaker has no sleeve to set a weir across the swift shoals of a seething heart in the river of her tears. According to the headnote, it was composed when a hundred-poem sequence was presented to Retired Emperor Go-Toba.
The author is Nijō-in no Sanuki, the daughter of Minamoto no Yorimasa. She served Emperor Nijō and later Gishūmon-in Ninshi, empress of Emperor Go-Toba.

The first line, "namidagawa," speaks of tears flowing like a river.
The second line, "tagitsu kokoro no," means "of a seething heart," "tagitsu" being water rushing violently. The flow of the river of tears is laid over a heart in violent turmoil.
The third line, "hayaki se o," means "the swift shoals." Against the still shoals where the buried wood lies in the preceding poem, here the shoals rush in torrent.
The fourth line, "shigarami kakete," means "setting a weir." After "ide no shigarami" in poem 1089 of this book, the weir appears again as that which holds back overflowing feeling.
The last line, "seku sode zo naki," closes with the attributive "naki" in answer to the particle "zo." In poem 1098 of this book the flowing water was dammed with a sleeve; here there is not even that sleeve, showing tears too violent to be held back.
Author
Nijoin no Sanuki
Source
Shin Kokin Wakashu
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