Ama no kawa shigarami kakete todomenan akazu nagaruru tsuki ya yodomu to - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

天の河しがらみかけてとどめなん
飽かず流るる月やよどむと

Roma-ji: Ama no kawa shigarami kakete todomenan akazu nagaruru tsuki ya yodomu to
English Translation: The River of Heaven,
I would set a weir across it
and hold it back—
so the moon, flowing on too soon,
might linger in its pools
Meaning: I would set a weir across the River of Heaven to hold it back, so that the moon, flowing away too soon, might linger in its pools.
Commentary: Book Six Autumn Poems II 329

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On seeing the moon."
The poet would set a weir across the River of Heaven to hold back its flow, in the hope that the moon, flowing west all too soon, might linger. Seeing the moon crossing the sky as something carried along the River of Heaven, it expresses regret for the setting moon.
From 327 to 334, eight poems stand together under the headnote "On seeing the moon."
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Ama no kawa," means "the River of Heaven," and the next poem, 330, also sets "ama no kawa" in its third line, singing of the moon flowing along it.
The second line, "shigarami kakete," means "setting a weir," singing of a weir on the River of Heaven like "kumo no shigarami" in 303 of this book.
In the third line, "nan" is the irrealis "na" of the completive "nu" with "mu" of intent: "let me hold it back." The poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "akazu nagaruru," means "flowing on, leaving me wanting."
In the last line, "ya" is an interrogative particle: "whether the moon might linger." It stands in inversion with the third line.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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