Yodogawa no yodomu to hito wa miruramedo nagarete fukaki kokoro aru mono o - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

淀川のよどむと人は見るらめど
流れて深き心あるものを

Roma-ji: Yodogawa no yodomu to hito wa miruramedo nagarete fukaki kokoro aru mono o
English Translation: Like the Yodo River,
stagnant is what people think
when they look at me;
yet flowing on, deep within
there runs a heart so deep.
Meaning: People may think me stagnant, like the Yodo River true to its name; yet beneath, my heart flows on, deep and unchanging.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 721

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Though to others it may seem stagnant, like the Yodo River true to its name, the speaker insists that a deep heart lies hidden in the depths of the current. Even if things appear to have stalled on the surface, unchanging love keeps flowing deep within, and the poem entrusts this to the image of a river.
Where the preceding poem, 720, likened a river's stillness to faltering visits, this one is set beside it as if in answer, saying that though it looks stagnant the heart is deep, and the two form a pair. The next poem, 722, also sings of the depth and shallowness of the heart through pools and shallows.

The first line, "Yodogawa no," refers to the Yodo River flowing from Yamashiro into Settsu, whose name leads to "yodomu" (stagnate) in the second line.
The second line, "yodomu to hito wa," means "people think it stagnant," suggesting that visits or feelings appear to have stalled.
The third line, "miruramedo," means "though they may see it so," the perfective form of the present conjectural "ramu" with the concessive "do."
The fourth line, "nagarete fukaki," overlays the deep flowing river with a heart that has stayed deep over time; "nagarete" also carries the sense of time passing.
The final line, "kokoro aru mono o," means "and yet there is a heart," closing with the adversative exclamation "mono o." It answers the preceding poem by using the same words as its fourth line, "kokoro aru to ya."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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