Ito ni yoru mono naranaku ni wakareji no kokorobosoku mo omōyuru kana - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

糸による物ならなくに別れ路の
心細くも思ほゆるかな

Roma-ji: Ito ni yoru mono naranaku ni wakareji no kokorobosoku mo omōyuru kana
English Translation: Though it is not thread
that one twists and spins together,
the parting road
feels so thin, so fragile,
and my heart so frail with it.
Meaning: It is not as if my heart were thread twisted fine, and yet on this road of parting it feels so thin and forlorn.
Commentary: Book Nine Travel Poems 415

Headnote: "Composed on the road when he went to the east"
On the way to the eastern provinces, the poet sings of the forlornness of the road that leads away from the people of the capital. From "hososhi," thin, in "kokorobososhi," forlorn, he draws the image of thread, and with the witty turn "though it is not thread I twist," he expresses the loneliness of parting.
The headnote shows that the poem was composed on the road to the east. Beneath it lies his thought of the people he has left behind as he sets out.
The author, "Tsurayuki," is Ki no Tsurayuki, the leading compiler of the Kokinshū and author of its kana preface. He later became governor of Tosa and recorded his journey home at the end of that post in The Tosa Diary. He is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.

In the first line, "yoru" means to twist thread together, and "thread," "twist" and "thin" form a set of associated words.
In the second line, "naku ni" means "although it is not." The poet first denies that it is thread being twisted, then brings in thread's thinness in the lower half.
The third line, "the road of parting," means the road on which one sets out, leaving others behind.
The fourth line, "forlorn," uses "thin" as a word associated with thread, and the particle "mo" heightens the sense of forlornness. After the preceding poem, 414, explains the origin of a mountain's name, this poem also draws associated words from the sound of language, so poems showing delight in words are placed together.
In the last line, "omohoyu" means to feel something spontaneously, and "kana" is an exclamatory particle.
Author: Ki no Tsurayuki
Source: Kokin Wakashu
Prev Poem: Kiehatsuru toki shi nakereba koshiji naru shirayama no na wa yuki ni zo arikeru
Next Poem: Yo o samumi oku hatsushimo o haraitsutsu kusa no makura ni amata tabi nenu