Mate to iwaba nete mo yukanamu shiite yuku koma no ashi ore mae no tanahashi - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

待てと言はば寝ても行かなむしひて行く
駒の足折れ前の棚橋

Roma-ji: Mate to iwaba nete mo yukanamu shiite yuku koma no ashi ore mae no tanahashi
English Translation: If I ask you, "Wait,"
stay and sleep, then you may go;
if you force your way,
may your horse's leg be broken,
plank bridge before my gate!
Meaning: If I ask you to wait, then sleep a while before you leave; and if you insist on going, may the plank bridge before my house break your horse's leg!
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 739

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
To a man who would leave though she begs him to stay, the speaker wishes that the plank bridge before her house would break his horse's leg if he insists on going—a fierce poem of detaining a lover. In the bold stroke of addressing the plank bridge, one senses the frank passion of a woman who refuses to part.
Following the preceding poem's longing for a visit, it sings of a heart trying to hold back a man who would leave. The next poem, 740, is also a poem of parting that watches someone come and go.

The first line, "mate to iwaba," means "if I say 'wait'," a hypothesis.
The second line, "nete mo yukanamu," means "sleep with me before you go," "namu" being a particle expressing a wish directed at another; the poem pauses here.
The third line, "shiite yuku," means "going by force," showing the man who shakes off her pleas and leaves.
The fourth line, "koma no ashi ore," means "break the horse's leg," the imperative "ore" expressing a strong wish.
The final line, "mae no tanahashi," addresses the plank bridge before the house, in inverted relation to the fourth line.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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