Hitome yue nochi ni au hi no harukeku wa waga tsuraki ni ya omoinasaremu - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

人目ゆゑ後にあふひのはるけくは
わがつらきにや思ひなされむ

Roma-ji: Hitome yue nochi ni au hi no harukeku wa waga tsuraki ni ya omoinasaremu
English Translation: Because of prying eyes,
if the day we meet again
is far away still,
will you then come to think
that it is my heart that is cold?
Meaning: If, because of watchful eyes, the day we next meet lies far away, will you come to believe that it is I who am heartless?
Commentary: Book Ten Names of Things 434

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Hollyhock, katsura"
This poem worries that if watchful eyes push back the day of meeting, the lover will think the speaker heartless. Like the preceding poem, it hides "aoi" (hollyhock) in "au hi" and "katsura" in "waga tsuraki" in the fourth line. Whereas the preceding poem is by one who resents a lover seldom met, this one voices the anxiety of one who cannot meet because of others' eyes, so the two poems treat the same titles from opposite sides.
The poet is recorded as "anonymous," and the name has not come down to us.

First line "Hitome yue" means "because of others' eyes," giving the reason for not meeting.
Second line "nochi ni au hi no" means "the day we meet hereafter," and "au hi" puns on the title "aoi" (hollyhock). It uses the same words as "au hi no mare ni" in the preceding poem's second line, linking the two.
Third line "harukeku wa" is conditional, meaning "if it should be far off."
Fourth line "waga tsuraki ni ya" means "as my coldness," and the title "katsura" is hidden in "waga tsuraki." "Ya" is an interrogative particle.
Fifth line "omoinasaremu" closes in the attributive "mu" in answer to "ya," fearing "will I be thought so?"
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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