Hirosegawa sode tsuku bakari asaki o ya kokoro fukamete waga omoeru ramu

広瀬川袖漬くばかり浅きをや
心深めて我が思へるらむ

Roma-ji: Hirosegawa sode tsuku bakari asaki o ya kokoro fukamete waga omoeru ramu
English Translation: Hirose River—
only deep enough to wet
a sleeve, so shallow;
why then with a heart so deep
have I come to think of you?
Meaning: The Hirose River is so shallow it barely wets one's sleeves—so why is it that I think of you with so deep a heart?
Commentary: Book Seven Allegorical Poems 1381

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On Rivers"
The Hirose River is so shallow it barely wets one's sleeves, yet the poet wonders why he thinks of his beloved with so deep a heart. The shallow river stands for the shallow feelings of the other, and the poem laments that only the speaker is so deeply in love.
It is one of the poems "On Rivers," built on the contrast of "shallow" and "deep." The Hirose River is thought to flow near Hirose in Yamato. The poet is unknown.

The first line names the Hirose River in Yamato.
The second line, "only deep enough to wet a sleeve," shows how shallow it is.
In the third line, "so shallow," the particle "ya" is answered by the attributive "ramu" in the final line.
The fourth line, "with a heart so deep," contrasts with "shallow" in the third line.
The final line, "have I come to think of you," completes the construction as the poet wonders at his own heart.
Source: Manyoshu
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