Ura ni taku moshio no keburi nabikame ya yomo no kata yori kaze wa fuku tomo - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

浦に焚く藻塩の煙なびかめや
四方の方より風は吹くとも

Roma-ji: Ura ni taku moshio no keburi nabikame ya yomo no kata yori kaze wa fuku tomo
English Translation: The smoke from salt fires
burning on the bay—would it
ever drift and bend,
though the wind should come to blow
from every one of the four quarters?
Meaning: Would the smoke of the salt fires burning on the bay ever bend and drift? No, not even if the wind should blow from all four quarters.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Love Poems V 1361

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the sixth poem of the sequence on tears and waters. The smoke of salt fires on the bay, the speaker says, will not bend whichever way the wind blows, vowing not to change heart no matter who comes courting. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Anonymous," indicates a poet whose name has not come down.
The last line of the text reads "kaze fuku tomo," with a note adding "wa" after "kaze." The reading line also has "kaze wa fuku tomo," and following the note it is given as "kaze wa fuku tomo."

The first line, "ura ni taku," means "burning fires on the bay."
The second line, "moshio no keburi," is the smoke that rises when seaweed doused with seawater is burned to make salt. In seaside love poems it is often sung as an image of a burning heart.
In the third line, "nabikame ya," "me" is the perfective form of the conjectural "mu" and "ya" is rhetorical: "would it bend? No, it would not." The poem breaks after the third line.
The fourth line, "yomo no kata yori," means "from every direction," suggesting overtures from many people.
In the last line, "kaze wa fuku tomo," "tomo" is a concessive supposition. Inverted from the third line, it sets the condition, whatever wind may blow, afterward. Where the preceding poem sang of a love hidden and weeping under the waves, this poem shows an unwavering heart in the firm resolve of smoke that will not bend.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
Prev Poem: Au koto no nami no shitakusa migakurete shizugokoro naku ne koso nakarure
Next Poem: Wasururan to omou kokoro no utagai ni arishi yori ke ni mono zo kanashiki