Tamaboko no michi wa haruka ni aranedomo utate kumoi ni madou koro kana - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

玉鉾の道ははるかにあらねども
うたて雲居にまどふころかな

Roma-ji: Tamaboko no michi wa haruka ni aranedomo utate kumoi ni madou koro kana
English Translation: The jeweled-spear road
that leads to you is not so
far a way to go,
yet sadly, among the clouds,
these days I wander, lost.
Meaning: The road to you is not so very long, yet these days, wretchedly, I wander lost as if among the clouds above the palace.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 1248

Headnote: "Sent when the Consort was staying in her lower quarters."
This is the first poem of a sequence of exchanges among members of the court. The road to you is not long, the speaker says, yet these days my heart is lost as if among the clouds. According to the headnote, it was sent when the Consort was staying in her "lower quarters."
The author, "Poem of Suzaku-in," is Emperor Suzaku. A son of Emperor Daigo, his mother was Fujiwara no Onshi. Suzaku-in is the name of the palace where he lived after abdicating, and "Poem of Suzaku-in" means a poem composed by Emperor Suzaku.
The Consort answers in the next poem, 1249.

The first line, "tamaboko no," is a pillow word modifying "michi," road.
The second line, "michi wa haruka ni," means "the road to you is far," and leads into the negative of the third line.
The third line, "aranedomo," is concessive: "though it is not." The same third line, "aranedomo," appears in Emperor Daigo's poem, 1244, so that the poems of father and son build their logic on the same phrase.
In the fourth line, "utate kumoi ni," "utate" means "wretchedly, to my dismay." "Kumoi," the sky where clouds lie, also means the palace, so the lament is that though he is in the palace he is lost as if among the clouds.
The last line, "madou koro kana," means "these days I wander lost." The paradox of losing one's way on a short road expresses the turmoil of a heart unable to meet the beloved.
Author: Emperor Suzaku
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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