Au koto o nagara no hashi no nagaraete koiwataru ma ni toshi zo henikeru - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

逢ふことをながらの橋のながらへて
恋ひ渡る間に年ぞ経にける

Roma-ji: Au koto o nagara no hashi no nagaraete koiwataru ma ni toshi zo henikeru
English Translation: Never meeting you,
like the Nagara Bridge
I have lingered long,
and as I've gone on loving,
the years have gone passing by
Meaning: Never able to meet you, I have lingered on like the long-standing Nagara Bridge, and while I have gone on loving you, the years have passed.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Love Poems V 826

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
Never meeting, the speaker has lived on like the ancient Nagara Bridge, and while loving on, the years have passed. The repeated sound nagara sets the rhythm, and the long span of loving is drawn as "crossing" the bridge. Like the preceding poem it speaks of a bridge and shares the last line, "the years have passed," forming a pair.
The author, "Sakanoue Korenori," is Sakanoue no Korenori, son of Sakanoue no Yoshikage, Head of the Right Horse Bureau, and said to be a descendant of Sakanoue no Tamuramaro. After posts including Provisional Junior Clerk of Yamato and Senior Private Secretary, he rose to Assistant Governor of Kaga of the junior fifth rank, lower grade. He is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.

The first line, "meeting," leads into nagara in the second line, suggesting "without meeting."
In the second line nagara is a pivot word, naming the Nagara Bridge in Settsu and meaning nakara, "being without" meeting. The bridge was sung of as something ancient and long-lasting.
The third line, "living on," repeats the sound of nagara in the second line.
In the fourth line wataru means both to continue and to cross a bridge, an associated word for the bridge.
The last line is the same as the last line of the preceding poem, resolving zo with the attributive of keri to lament the passing years.
Author: Sakanoue no Koreyuki
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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