Tatsutagawa aki wa mizu naku asenanan akanu momiji no nagarureba oshi - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

竜田川秋は水なくあせななん
飽かぬ紅葉の流るれば惜し

Roma-ji: Tatsutagawa aki wa mizu naku asenanan akanu momiji no nagarureba oshi
English Translation: Tatsuta River,
in autumn I wish you'd run dry
and have no water—
it grieves me so to see
the leaves I love float away
Meaning: Tatsuta River, I wish you would run dry in autumn and have no water at all, for it grieves me to see the leaves I never tire of float away.
Commentary: Book Seven Autumn Poems III 416

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet wishes that the Tatsuta River would run dry in autumn, since it is a pity to see leaves one never tires of carried away. It is a bold poem that, out of love for the leaves, wishes the river had no water at all.
Where the poems before it gazed at the leaves flowing down the river as something lovely, this one regrets their being carried away. It closes the poems on the Tatsuta River.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Tatsutagawa," is the river at the foot of Mount Tatsuta, the same opening as 413 and 414 of this book.
The second line, "aki wa mizu naku," means "in autumn, without water."
In the third line, "asu" means for water to dwindle and grow shallow, and "nanan" means "I wish it would": "would that it ran dry." The poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "akanu momiji no," means "the leaves I never tire of."
The last line, "nagarureba oshi," means "it is a pity that they flow away," in inversion with the third line, giving afterward the reason for the wish.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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