Aki goto ni tsura o hanarenu karigane wa haru kaeru tomo kaerazaranan - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

秋ごとに列を離れぬ雁がねは
春帰るとも帰らざらなん

Roma-ji: Aki goto ni tsura o hanarenu karigane wa haru kaeru tomo kaerazaranan
English Translation: The wild geese that come
each autumn, never breaking rank—
even when spring
returns again, I would have them
not return to where they came
Meaning: I wish the wild geese that come each autumn without breaking rank would not return north, even when spring returns.
Commentary: Book Seven Autumn Poems III 435

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet wishes that the wild geese, which come every autumn without breaking rank, would not go back north even when spring returns. With autumn's end at hand, it longs to keep the geese, a token of autumn, forever.
363 of this book also sings of geese that come and go each autumn. Placed near the end of the book, it entrusts to the geese its regret for departing autumn.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us. The text gives the poet as "yomibito mo," which is treated here as "anonymous."

The first line, "Aki goto ni," means "every autumn," the same opening as 363 of this book.
In the second line, "tsura" is the line in which geese fly: "never leaving their rank."
The third line, "karigane wa," means "the wild geese."
The fourth line, "haru kaeru tomo," means "even when spring comes round again."
In the last line, "nan" is a particle of wishing: "I would have them not return." It repeats "kaeru" from the fourth line, setting the return of spring against the return of the geese.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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