Au koto wa itodo kumoi no ōzora ni tatsu na nomi shite yaminu bakari ka - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

逢ふことはいとど雲居の大空に
立つ名のみして止みぬばかりか

Roma-ji: Au koto wa itodo kumoi no ōzora ni tatsu na nomi shite yaminu bakari ka
English Translation: Our meeting grows
ever more remote, like clouds
in the wide sky;
only rumors rise like them—
will it all just end like this
Meaning: Our meeting has grown as remote as clouds in the vast sky; only rumors of us rise, and will it all simply end at that?
Commentary: Book Nine Love Poems I 534

Headnote: "To a woman."
The poet asks whether, with meeting grown ever more remote and only rumors rising like clouds in the vast sky, their love will simply end. It laments the emptiness of a love in which there is no meeting, only rumors spreading.
According to the headnote, the poem was sent to a woman. The next poem is her reply and the one after is the man's second poem, so that the three form a sequence of exchanges woven around clouds.
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, "Au koto wa," means "as for our meeting." It is the same line as the third line of the next poem.
The second line, "itodo kumoi no," means "ever more remote, where clouds hang," saying that meeting has grown far away.
The third line, "ōzora ni," means "in the vast sky," leading through rising clouds to "tatsu," to rise, in the fourth line.
The fourth line, "tatsu na nomi shite," means "only rumors rising," with "tatsu" an associated word with clouds. It is the same line as the fourth line of 539 in this book.
The last line, "yaminu bakari ka," means "will it simply end?", the same words as the second line of 517 in this book.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
Prev Poem: Tachikaeri nurete wa hinuru shio nareba Ikuta no ura no saga to koso mire
Next Poem: Yoso nagara yaman to mo sezu au koto wa ima koso kumo no taema naru rame