Wasureji no koto no ha ika ni narinikemu tanomeshi kure wa akikaze zo fuku - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

忘れじの言の葉いかになりにけむ
頼めし暮れは秋風ぞ吹く

Roma-ji: Wasureji no koto no ha ika ni narinikemu tanomeshi kure wa akikaze zo fuku
English Translation: "I'll never forget,"
what became of those leaf-words
that you spoke to me?
In the evening you promised,
only the autumn wind blows.
Meaning: What has become of your words, "I will never forget"? On the evening you promised to come, only the autumn wind blows.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 1303

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On the topic 'Love That Met and Then Could Meet No More,' at the poetry contest of the third month of Kennin 1."
This is the fifth poem of the sequence on love that met and then could meet no more. What became of the words "I will never forget"? the speaker asks; on the evening you promised, only the autumn wind blows. Continuing from the preceding poem, it was composed on the topic "Love That Met and Then Could Meet No More" at the poetry contest of the third month of Kennin 1.
The author, "Tango of Gishūmon'in," was a lady-in-waiting to Gishūmon'in Ninshi, empress of Emperor Go-Toba.

The first line, "wasureji no," means "saying 'I will not forget.'" Like "wasureji to" in the first line of 1277, it names the lover's vow.
In the second line, "koto no ha ika ni," "koto no ha" likens words to leaves, tied as an associated word to "akikaze," autumn wind, in the last line.
The third line, "narinikemu," means "what has become of them?" and the poem breaks after it; "kemu" conjectures about the past.
The fourth line, "tanomeshi kure wa," means "the evening you made me trust." It takes up "yūgure no sora" from the preceding poem.
The last line, "akikaze zo fuku," closes in the attributive form "fuku" in answer to "zo." The autumn wind scatters leaves and has long been sung as a scene suggesting a heart grown weary. It closes as if the leaves of words had been scattered by the autumn wind, leading into the poems on wind that begin with the next poem.
Author: Gishumon-in no Tango
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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