Mirume karu nagisa ya izuko augo nami tachiyoru kata mo shiranu waga mi wa - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

みるめ刈る渚やいづこあふごなみ
立ち寄る方も知らぬ我が身は

Roma-ji: Mirume karu nagisa ya izuko augo nami tachiyoru kata mo shiranu waga mi wa
English Translation: Where is the shore
where seaweed is gathered?
With no chance to meet,
like waves, I know of nowhere
I can draw near at all
Meaning: Where is the shore where the seaweed of meeting can be gathered? With no chance to meet you, I, like the waves, know of no place where I might draw near.
Commentary: Book Ten Love Poems II 650

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet asks where the shore is on which seaweed is cut, for he has no chance to meet her and knows of nowhere to draw near. He voices the grief of a love without means of meeting through a series of words associated with the seashore.
It is a poem of verbal art that strings together words of the shore: "mirume," "nami," "tachiyoru," and "nagisa."
The poet, Ariwara no Motokata, was a grandson of Ariwara no Narihira and a son of Ariwara no Muneyana. He is known as the author of "toshi no uchi ni haru wa kinikeri," the opening poem of the Kokin Wakashū.

In the first line, "mirume" is a pivot word joining "miru," a seaweed, and "mirume," a chance to meet.
The second line, "nagisa ya izuko," means "where is the shore?" and the poem pauses here.
In the third line, "augo nami" joins "augo," a time to meet, with "nami" as both "there being none" and "waves": "since there is no chance to meet."
The fourth line, "tachiyoru kata mo," means "a place to draw near," with "yoru" an associated word with waves.
The last line, "shiranu waga mi wa," means "I who do not know," inverted with the first two lines.
Author: Ariwara no Motokata
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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