Ima wa tote kaesu koto no ha hiroiokite onoga mono kara katami to ya mimu - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

今はとて返す言の葉拾ひ置きて
おのがものから形見とや見む

Roma-ji: Ima wa tote kaesu koto no ha hiroiokite onoga mono kara katami to ya mimu
English Translation: "It is over now,"
you say, returning these leaves;
I gather them in,
and though they once were mine,
must I keep them as your keepsake?
Meaning: You return my letters, saying "it is over now"; I gather them up and keep them—though they were once my own words, must I now look on them as keepsakes of you?
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 737

Headnote: "Reply"
Minamoto no Yoshiari's reply to the preceding poem: gathering up the letters returned to him as a token of parting, he laments that though he wrote them himself, he must now regard them as keepsakes of her. The irony of his own words becoming her keepsake carries the sorrow of parting.
It answers "koto no ha" and "kaeshitemu" of the preceding poem with "kaesu koto no ha," and "okidokoro nashi" with "hiroiokite," matching word to word with care. The word "katami" (keepsake) links forward to the sequence on keepsakes, 743 through 746, at the end of the book.
The author, "the Chikanoin Minister of the Right," is Minamoto no Yoshiari. A son of Emperor Montoku, he was made a commoner with the surname Minamoto and rose to Minister of the Right; he is called the Chikanoin Minister of the Right.

The first line, "ima wa tote," means "saying 'it is over now'," words of farewell.
The second line, "kaesu koto no ha," means "the words you return," taking up "koto no ha" and "kaeshitemu" from the preceding poem.
The third line, "hiroiokite," means "gathering them up and keeping them," an associated word of "koto no ha" likened to leaves, and an answer to "okidokoro nashi" in the preceding poem; it has six syllables, one more than usual.
The fourth line, "onoga mono kara," means "though they are my own," "mono kara" being a concessive particle.
The final line, "katami to ya mimu," means "must I look on them as keepsakes?", with the particle "ya" closed by the attributive form of the conjectural "mu."
Author: Minamoto no Yoshiari
Source: Kokin Wakashu
Prev Poem: Tanomekoshi koto no ha ima wa kaeshitemu waga mi furureba okidokoro nashi
Next Poem: Tamahoko no michi wa tsune ni mo madowanamu hito o tou tomo ware ka to omowamu