Satobito no koto wa natsuno no shigeku tomo kareyuku kimi ni awazarame ya wa - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

里人の言は夏野の繁くとも
かれゆく君に逢はざらめやは

Roma-ji: Satobito no koto wa natsuno no shigeku tomo kareyuku kimi ni awazarame ya wa
English Translation: Though the villagers'
gossip grows as thick as grass
on a summer field,
could I not meet you who drift
away like withering grass?
Meaning: Though the villagers' gossip grows as thick as summer grass, how could I not go to meet you, even as you drift away from me like withering grass?
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 704

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Though gossip grows as thick as grass on a summer field, the speaker cannot help seeking the lover who is drifting away, heedless of what people say. Linking "shigeku" (thick) and "kare" (wither, part) through summer grass, the poem overlays gossip and fading love with the image of grass.
Following "koto no shigekemu" and "koto shigeku tomo" in 702 and 703, it closes the sequence on gossip with "satobito no koto." "Kareyuku" shares with "karehatemu" in 686 of this book the device of joining withering and parting.

The first line, "satobito no," refers to the people of the village, suggesting the eyes of the world.
The second line, "koto wa natsuno no," means "the talk, like the summer field," and from the summer field's thick grass leads to "shigeku" in the third line.
The third line, "shigeku tomo," means "even if thick," a concessive hypothesis overlaying abundant gossip with dense summer grass.
In the fourth line, "kareyuku kimi ni," "kare" is a pivot word joining the withering of grass and the drifting away of a lover, an associated word of the summer field.
The final line, "awazarame ya wa," means "could I not meet you? Surely I must," closing with the rhetorical "ya wa."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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