Aki no ta no ho no ue o terasu inazuma no hikari no ma ni mo ware ya wasururu - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

秋の田の穂の上を照らす稲妻の
光の間にも我や忘るる

Roma-ji: Aki no ta no ho no ue o terasu inazuma no hikari no ma ni mo ware ya wasururu
English Translation: Over autumn fields
lighting up the ears of rice
the lightning flashes
even in that brief instant
could I ever forget you
Meaning: Even for the brief instant of the lightning that flashes over the ears of rice in the autumn fields, could I ever forget you?
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 548

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Taking as its preface the lightning that flashes for an instant over the ears of rice in the autumn fields, the poem sings that the poet would not forget the beloved even for that brief moment. The brevity of lightning serves to stress how unbroken the love is, and the vivid scene of an autumn night makes the poem memorable. While singing of the same autumn fields as the preceding poem, 547, it unfolds into a scene of movement with the flash of lightning.

First line, "Over autumn fields": the same first line as the preceding poem, 547, placing two poems of autumn fields side by side.
Second line, "lighting up the ears of rice": ho no ue wo terasu means shining over the ears of rice; the line has extra syllables.
Third line, "the lightning flashes": inazuma, lightning, is so named because it was thought to bring the rice to ripeness. Lines one through three form a preface leading to hikari no ma in the fourth line.
Fourth line, "even in that brief instant": hikari no ma ni mo means even in the brief moment of the flash.
Fifth line, "could I ever forget you": ware ya wasururu means "would I forget? never," with ya rhetorical, forming a kakari-musubi with the attributive wasururu.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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