Wabinureba mi o ukikusa no ne o taete sasou mizu araba inamu to zo omou - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

わびぬれば身をうき草の根を絶えて
誘ふ水あらばいなむとぞ思ふ

Roma-ji: Wabinureba mi o ukikusa no ne o taete sasou mizu araba inamu to zo omou
English Translation: Living in such gloom,
I am like the floating weed
whose roots have been cut;
if a stream would draw me on,
I think that I would follow.
Meaning: I am so weary of life that I feel like a floating weed cut loose from its roots; if some stream would invite me along, I think I would drift away with it.
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems II 938

Headnote: "Composed in reply when Fun'ya no Yasuhide, having become Secretary of Mikawa, sent word asking whether I might not come out to see the province"
This is Ono no Komachi's reply to Fun'ya no Yasuhide, newly appointed Secretary of Mikawa, who invited her to come and see his province. Comparing her unhappy life to a rootless floating weed, she answers that if someone invites her, she might go.
While seeming to accept the invitation, the poem strongly conveys her sense of her own insecurity, and it is known as one of Komachi's representative works. Ōshikōchi no Mitsune's poem 976 in this book also uses "floating weed" and "roots cut off," sharing the same words.
The author is Ono no Komachi, one of the Six Poetic Immortals and the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals. Her origins are unclear, but she seems to have served at court around the time of Emperor Ninmyō. She excelled at love poetry and is known for her passionate style.

The first line, "living in such gloom," uses the perfective nure with ba to give an established reason: "since I am so weary."
The second line contains a pivot word: uki means both "sorrowful" and "floating," overlapping a life felt as bitter with weed drifting on water.
The third line, "whose roots have been cut," expresses a life with nothing to rely on; "roots" is an associated word for the floating weed.
The fourth line, "if a stream would draw me on," compares Yasuhide's invitation to a current of water. It has eight syllables instead of seven.
The last line, "I think that I would follow," uses na (perfective) and mu (volition); the emphatic zo governs the attributive ending of omou.
Author: Ono no Komachi
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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