Tanabata mo au yo arikeri ama no kawa kono watari ni wa wataru se mo nashi - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

織女も逢ふ夜ありけり天の河
この渡りには渡る瀬もなし

Roma-ji: Tanabata mo au yo arikeri ama no kawa kono watari ni wa wataru se mo nashi
English Translation: Even the Weaver Maid
has a night when she may meet—
the River of Heaven,
yet at this crossing near you
there is no shallow to ford
Meaning: Even the Weaver Maid has her night of meeting—but on the River of Heaven, at this crossing by you, there is no ford for me to cross.
Commentary: Book Five Autumn Poems I 229

Headnote: "Sent to a woman on the seventh."
The poet complains that even the Weaver Maid has her one night of meeting each year, yet near his beloved there is no ford to cross. On the night of Tanabata, he laments a love less fortunate than the Weaver Maid's.
According to the headnote, it was sent to a woman on the seventh of the Seventh Month.
The poet, Fujiwara no Kanezō, was an official of the mid-Heian period. His poems are included in the Gosen Wakashū, but little is known of his life.

In the first line, "mo" means "even the Weaver Maid."
The second line, "au yo arikeri," means "she too has a night of meeting," with "keri" a sigh of realization. The poem pauses here.
The third line, "ama no kawa," means "the River of Heaven," one of the run of River of Heaven poems in this book.
In the fourth line, "watari" is a pivot word joining "watari," a river crossing, and "watari," a vicinity. It carries the sense of "here near where you are."
The last line, "wataru se mo nashi," means "there is no ford to cross," and "watari," "wataru," and "se" are associated words. The conceit resembles "asaki se shirazu" in the preceding poem, 228.
Author: Fujiwara no Kanezō
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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