Koto ni idete iwaba yuyushimi yamagawa no tagitsu kokoro o sekaetarikeri

言に出でて言はばゆゆしみ山川の
たぎつ心を塞かへたりけり

Roma-ji: Koto ni idete iwaba yuyushimi yamagawa no tagitsu kokoro o sekaetarikeri
English Translation: Since to put in words,
to speak it, would bring ill luck,
like a mountain stream
my heart has seethed and surged, yet
all this while I held it back
Meaning: Since it would be ill-omened to put it into words, I have dammed up and held back my heart, which seethes like a mountain torrent.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2432

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
Because it is a thing to be guarded against to speak one's love aloud, the speaker has dammed up and borne a heart that surges like a mountain torrent. Against the background of the belief in the power of words, that speaking can invite misfortune, the poem entrusts the violence of a suppressed love to the force of a mountain stream.
Following the poems on the Uji and Kamo Rivers, this one likens the heart to the torrent of an unnamed mountain stream. Together with poem 2430, in which the Uji's foam churns, it lays the force of water over the intensity of love; and against this poem, which holds back from speaking, poem 2441 tells of being unable to bear it and speaking the beloved's name.
The author is unknown; according to the left note, the poem comes from the Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection. That collection is thought to contain both Hitomaro's own poems and poems by others that he recorded. Kakinomoto no Hitomaro was a court poet active in the reigns of Empress Jito and Emperor Monmu, and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "koto ni idete": "putting into words," that is, speaking aloud a love that should be kept secret.
Second line, "iwaba yuyushimi": "since to speak would be ill-omened." "Yuyushimi" is the mi construction formed from the stem of the adjective "yuyushi," expressing reason.
Third line, "yamagawa no": "like a mountain stream," a simile leading to "seething" in the next line.
Fourth line, "tagitsu kokoro o": "my seething heart," transferring the torrent of the mountain stream directly to the motion of the heart.
Fifth line, "sekaetarikeri": "I have held it dammed back." With the continuative auxiliary "tari" and the exclamatory "keri," it voices a fresh awareness of how long the speaker has endured.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
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