Katsuragi ya Kumeji ni watasu iwahashi no taenishi naka to nari ya hatenan - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

葛城や久米路に渡す岩橋の
絶えにしなかとなりや果てなん

Roma-ji: Katsuragi ya Kumeji ni watasu iwahashi no taenishi naka to nari ya hatenan
English Translation: At Katsuragi,
the stone bridge meant to span
the road of Kume—
broken off midway, will ours
end as such a severed bond?
Meaning: Like the stone bridge meant to span the road of Kume at Katsuragi and broken off midway, will ours end as a severed bond?
Commentary: Book Fifteen Love Poems V 1406

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the first poem of the sequence on broken vows. Like the stone bridge meant to span the road of Kume at Katsuragi that broke off midway, the speaker fears their bond too will end severed. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Yoshinobu Ason," is Ōnakatomi no Yoshinobu. He served as chief priest of Ise Shrine and, as one of the Five Men of the Pear Chamber, took part in compiling the Gosenshū.
The stone bridge of Kume is the bridge of legend that the ascetic En no Gyōja ordered the gods to build from Mount Katsuragi to Mount Kinpu in Yoshino, but which was never finished because the god Hitokotonushi of Katsuragi, ashamed of his looks, worked only at night; it is sung as a figure for something broken off midway. Mount Katsuragi stands on the border of Yamato and Kawachi Provinces.

The first line, "Katsuragi ya," presents the name of the poetic site with the exclamatory "ya."
The second line, "Kumeji ni watasu," means "to span the road of Kume."
Up to the third line, "iwahashi no," the legend of the unfinished stone bridge forms a preface leading to "tae" (broken off) in the fourth line.
In the fourth line, "taenishi naka to," "naka" is a pivot word joining the "middle" of the bridge and the "bond" between lovers.
In the last line, "nari ya hatenan," "ya" is a questioning particle, closed by the attributive "nan." From the laments over one's wretched lot in the preceding group, the book turns here to poems on the broken bond itself.
Author: Onakatomi no Yoshinobu
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
Prev Poem: Waga mi koso aranu ka to nomi tadorarure tou beki hito ni wasurareshi yori
Next Poem: Ima wa tomo omoi na tae so nonaka naru mizu no nagare wa yukite tazunen