Ame furite mizu masarikeri ama no kawa koyoi wa yoso ni koimu to ya mishi - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

雨降りて水まさりけり天の河
今宵はよそに恋ひむとや見し

Roma-ji: Ame furite mizu masarikeri ama no kawa koyoi wa yoso ni koimu to ya mishi
English Translation: The rain has fallen,
and the waters have risen high
on the River of Heaven—
did I ever think that tonight
I would love you from afar
Meaning: The rain has fallen and the River of Heaven has risen—did I ever imagine that tonight I would have to long for you from afar?
Commentary: Book Five Autumn Poems I 227

Headnote: "On the seventh of the Seventh Month, he had said he would come by evening, but it rained, and so he did not come."
He says that the rain has swelled the River of Heaven, and that he never imagined he would spend this night longing for her from afar. He likens himself, kept from visiting by the rain, to the Herdsman cut off by the swollen River of Heaven.
According to the headnote, he had promised to come by evening on the seventh of the Seventh Month, but it rained, and he sent this instead of coming. The next poem is the woman's reply, and the two form an exchange.
The poet, Minamoto no Nakamasa, was an official of the mid-Heian period. His poems are included in the Gosen Wakashū, but little is known of his life.

The first line, "Ame furite," means "the rain has fallen," pointing to the rain on Tanabata in the headnote.
The second line, "mizu masarikeri," means "the waters have risen," with "keri" a sigh of realization. The poem pauses here. The next poem, 228, answers with "mizu masari" in its first line.
The third line, "ama no kawa," means "the River of Heaven," in inversion with the second line, showing that it is the River of Heaven that has risen. It takes up the first line of the preceding poem.
The fourth line, "koyoi wa yoso ni," means "tonight from afar," expressing longing from a distance without meeting.
In the last line, "ya" is an interrogative particle and "shi" is the attributive form of the past auxiliary "ki": "did I think I would long for you?"—meaning that he never did.
Author: Minamoto no Nakamasa
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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