Tsurashi tomo omoi zo hatenu namidagawa nagarete hito o tanomu kokoro wa - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

つらしとも思ひぞ果てぬ涙川
流れて人を頼む心は

Roma-ji: Tsurashi tomo omoi zo hatenu namidagawa nagarete hito o tanomu kokoro wa
English Translation: I cannot quite
resolve to think you cruel—
the River of Tears
flows on, and so my heart
still trusts in you in time
Meaning: I cannot bring myself to think you cruel: like the River of Tears flowing on, my heart goes on trusting that in time you will be mine.
Commentary: Book Ten Love Poems II 656

Headnote: "Sent to a woman."
The poet says he cannot bring himself to think her cruel, for like the River of Tears flowing on, his heart still trusts in her for the time to come. Though shedding tears, he cannot give her up, and relies on the hope that his feelings will one day reach her.
According to the headnote, it was sent to a woman. The next poem, 657, is the woman's reply, forming an exchange on the River of Tears.
The poet, Tachibana no Sanetoshi, lived in the mid Heian period, and few details of his life have come down to us.

The first line, "Tsurashi tomo," means "that you are cruel."
The second line, "omoi zo hatenu," means "I cannot bring myself to think," with "zo" an emphatic particle closing with "nu," the attributive of the negative "zu," a kakarimusubi pattern. The poem pauses here.
The third line, "namidagawa," likens flowing tears to a river. The next poem, 657, also places "namidagawa" in its third line.
In the fourth line, "nagarete" is an associated word with the River of Tears, expressing "as time flows on, in the days to come." The next poem turns this "nagarete" back at him in its first line.
The last line, "tanomu kokoro wa," means "my heart that trusts," inverted with the first two lines.
Author: Tachibana no Sanetoshi
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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