Tagitsu se ni nezashi todomenu ukikusa no ukitaru koi mo ware wa suru kana - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

たぎつ瀬に根ざしとどめぬ浮草の
うきたる恋も我はするかな

Roma-ji: Tagitsu se ni nezashi todomenu ukikusa no ukitaru koi mo ware wa suru kana
English Translation: Like the floating weed
that cannot keep its roots
in the rushing rapids,
a drifting, sorrowful love
is the love that I now feel.
Meaning: Like floating weeds that cannot put down roots in the rushing rapids, I am caught in a drifting, sorrowful love.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 592

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poet says that he is in a love as unsteady and unsettled as floating weeds that drift, unable to take root in the rushing rapids. The upper verse serves as a preface, and uki carries both "floating" and "sorrowful," expressing the anxiety and pain of an uncertain love. Following the water flowing beneath the winter river in the previous poem, poems using waterside images stand side by side.
Mibu no Tadamine was a poet of the early Heian period and the father of Mibu no Tadami. Although a low-ranking official, he was chosen as one of the compilers of the Kokinshū. He is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.

First line, "tagitsu se ni": tagitsu se is a rapid where water churns violently. It is the same word Komachi used in 557 of this book to describe her own tears.
Second line, "nezashi todomenu": nezasu means to put down roots, and nu is the attributive of the negative zu: "unable to take root and stay."
Third line, "ukikusa no": ukikusa are weeds that float and drift on the surface. The first three lines form a preface, leading by sound to uki.
Fourth line, "ukitaru koi mo": uki is a pun on uki, "floating," as of the weeds, and uki, "sorrowful." It is a love both unsteady and painful.
Fifth line, "ware wa suru kana": kana is exclamatory. It uses the same pattern as "koi mo suru kana" in 561 and other poems of this book, with the word order changed to "koi mo ware wa suru kana."
Author: Mibu no Tadamine
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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