Negigoto o sa nomi kikikemu yashiro koso hate wa nageki no mori to narurame - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

ねぎ言をさのみ聞きけむ社こそ
果てはなげきの森となるらめ

Roma-ji: Negigoto o sa nomi kikikemu yashiro koso hate wa nageki no mori to narurame
English Translation: The shrine that has heard
so very many prayers,
it must be that shrine
that will in the end become
a forest of cast-off sighs
Meaning: The shrine that has listened to so many prayers will surely, in the end, become a forest grown from people's sighs, heaped up like firewood.
Commentary: Book Nineteen Miscellaneous Forms 1055

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Shrines hear people's prayers, but the poet jests that the sighs of unanswered prayers will pile up until the shrine becomes a forest of "nageki," firewood. The pun on "nageki," sighing and firewood, links the shrine grove to the multitude of sorrows. From this poem through 1057, three poems in a row treat "nageki" as firewood.
The author, "Sanuki," is Sanuki. Nothing further is known of her.

First line, "Negigoto o," means the prayers offered to the gods.
Second line, "sa nomi kikikemu," combines "sa nomi," so very much, with past conjectural "kemu": must have heard so many.
Third line, "yashiro koso," uses "koso," answered by the perfective "rame" at the end.
Fourth line, "hate wa nageki no," is a pivot word joining "nageki," sighs, and "nageki," firewood.
Fifth line, "mori to narurame," takes the perfective "rame" in response to "koso." Shrine, grove, and firewood are associated words.
Author: Sanuki
Source: Kokin Wakashu
Prev Poem: Yoso nagara waga mi ni ito no yoru to ieba tada itsuwari ni sugu bakari nari
Next Poem: Nageki koru yama to shi takaku narinureba tsurazue nomi zo mazu tsukarekeru