Omoikemu hito o zo tomo ni omowamashi masashi ya mukui nakarikeri ya wa - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

思ひけむ人をぞともに思はまし
まさしや報いなかりけりやは

Roma-ji: Omoikemu hito o zo tomo ni omowamashi masashi ya mukui nakarikeri ya wa
English Translation: The one who, it seems,
had given me their love—
I should have loved them too;
truly now, can it be said
that there's no retribution?
Meaning: I should have loved in return the one who, it seems, loved me. Truly, can anyone say there is no retribution?
Commentary: Book Nineteen Miscellaneous Forms 1042

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Taking up the logic of karmic retribution in the preceding poem, the poet regrets not having returned the love of one who cared for them: retribution is real after all. The two poems stand side by side like question and answer. The author is recorded as anonymous, though one manuscript attributes it to Kiyohara no Fukayabu.
The author is unknown and is recorded as "Anonymous."

First line, "Omoikemu," uses past conjectural "kemu": who must have loved me.
Second line, "hito o zo tomo ni," uses emphatic "zo": that very person, together.
Third line, "omowamashi," uses counterfactual "mashi": I should have loved them. It is attributive in response to "zo," and the poem breaks here.
Fourth line, "masashi ya mukui," uses "masashi," truly, and takes up "mukui," retribution, from the preceding poem.
Fifth line, "nakarikeri ya wa," is rhetorical: was there no retribution? Indeed there was.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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