Uchiwatashi nagaki kokoro wa Yatsuhashi no kumode ni omou koto wa taeseji - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

うち渡し長き心は八橋の
蜘蛛手に思ふことは絶えせじ

Roma-ji: Uchiwatashi nagaki kokoro wa Yatsuhashi no kumode ni omou koto wa taeseji
English Translation: Spanning far and wide,
my long heart is like the bridges
at Yatsuhashi—
though it branches like spider's legs,
it will never break apart
Meaning: My heart, stretching long like a bridge laid across, may branch in all directions like the spider-leg streams of Yatsuhashi, but it will never break.
Commentary: Book Nine Love Poems I 570

Headnote: "Reply."
The poet answers that his heart, stretching long like a bridge laid across, may branch in all directions like the spider-leg streams of Yatsuhashi, but will never break. Taking up the spider's thread of the preceding poem, he turns it into the spider-leg branching of Yatsuhashi and replies that his heart will not be broken off.
It is a reply to the preceding poem. It answers "sasagani no ito" and "taehatsuru" with "kumode" and "taeseji." Yatsuhashi is a place in Mikawa known from the eastward journey in the Tales of Ise.
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, "Uchiwatashi," means "laying a bridge long across," an associated word with "Yatsuhashi" in the third line.
The second line, "nagaki kokoro wa," means "a heart that lasts long," the same words as the fourth line of 579 in this book.
The third line, "Yatsuhashi no," means "of Yatsuhashi in Mikawa," a poetic place named for the eight bridges laid where the river branched like a spider's legs.
The fourth line, "kumode ni omou," means "thinking in all directions like a spider's legs," taking up "sasagani" in the preceding poem.
The last line, "koto wa taeseji," means "will never break," taking up "taehatsuru" in the first line of the preceding poem and denying it.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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