Kagaribi ni aranu waga mi no nazo mo kaku namida no kawa ni ukite moyuramu - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

篝火にあらぬわが身のなぞもかく
涙の川に浮きて燃ゆらむ

Roma-ji: Kagaribi ni aranu waga mi no nazo mo kaku namida no kawa ni ukite moyuramu
English Translation: I am not a cresset
so why then should my body
in this way, I wonder
float upon a river of tears
and yet burn with fire
Meaning: I am no cresset fire, so why should I float like this upon a river of tears and yet burn with the flame of love?
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 529

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Just as the cresset fires of cormorant-fishing boats burn while floating on the river, the poet asks why he, who is no cresset, floats on a river of tears while burning with love. The contradiction of a love that holds both water and fire at once is entrusted to the scene of cressets on the river. The next poem, 530, also sings of the cresset, and the two form a pair.

First line, "I am not a cresset": kagaribi is the fire lit on boats for cormorant fishing on the night river. The next poem, 530, begins with the same cresset, and the two form a pair.
Second line, "so why then should my body": aranu waga mi no means "my body, which is not a cresset."
Third line, "in this way, I wonder": nazo mo kaku means "why so," answering ramu at the end as a question.
Fourth line, "float upon a river of tears": namida no kawa, tears flowing into a river, likens tears to a river along with the "river of tears" of poems 511 and 527 of this book.
Fifth line, "and yet burn with fire": ukite moyuramu means "why do I float and burn?", with ramu an auxiliary of conjecture about a present cause. Moyu means burning with love, expressing the contradiction of tear-water and love's fire.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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