Tagui naki mono to wa ware zo narinubeki tanabatatsume wa hitome ya wa moru - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

類なき物とは我ぞなりぬべき
たなばたつめは人目やは守る

Roma-ji: Tagui naki mono to wa ware zo narinubeki tanabatatsume wa hitome ya wa moru
English Translation: Beyond compare, I fear,
it is I who must become
the one so wretched—
for the Weaver Maid, does she
keep watch on the eyes of others
Meaning: I fear it is I who will become the one beyond compare—does the Weaver Maid ever have to guard against the eyes of others?
Commentary: Book Five Autumn Poems I 232

Headnote: "Reply."
The reply says that the Weaver Maid can meet without regard for others' eyes, while the poet must hide from them, and so will become one wretched beyond compare. Where the preceding poem likened the poet to the Weaver Maid, this one answers that she is not like the Weaver Maid at all.
It forms an exchange with the preceding poem, 231.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Tagui naki," means "without compare," expressing a lot more painful than any other.
In the second line, "zo" is an emphatic particle, stressing "it is I."
In the third line, "nubeki" combines intensification and conjecture: "I shall surely become." The particle "zo" in the second line and the attributive "beki" form a kakarimusubi pattern, and the poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "tanabatatsume wa," means "the Weaver Maid," taking up "tanabatatsume mo" in the fourth line of the preceding poem. Setting "wa" against the preceding "mo," it distinguishes the Weaver Maid from the poet.
In the last line, "ya wa" is rhetorical: "does she watch for others' eyes?"—meaning she does not. It shows the pain of a love that must hide from others by contrast with the Weaver Maid.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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