Mukashi seshi waga kanegoto no kanashiki wa ika ni chigirishi nagori naruran - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

昔せし我がかね言の悲しきは
いかに契りしなごりなるらん

Roma-ji: Mukashi seshi waga kanegoto no kanashiki wa ika ni chigirishi nagori naruran
English Translation: The vows I made
long ago are now
so full of sorrow—
what pledge was it, I wonder,
that leaves behind this trace
Meaning: The promise I made long ago is now so full of grief. What kind of pledge was it, I wonder, that this should be its lingering trace?
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems III 710

Headnote: "Taira no Sadafun had been secretly courting a woman in the house of Major Counselor Kunitsune and had pledged himself to her for the future, when she was suddenly taken away by the Posthumous Chancellor. With no way left even to send a letter, he called over her child of about five, who was playing in the west wing of the Hon'in, and wrote this on the child's arm, telling it to show its mother."
The poet asks what kind of pledge it was that leaves such sorrow behind. He voices the helpless grief of a man whose beloved, sworn to him for the future, has been suddenly taken from him with no means left to write.
According to the headnote, Sadafun had secretly been courting a woman in the house of Major Counselor Fujiwara no Kunitsune and had pledged their future, but she was abruptly taken in by the Posthumous Chancellor. With no way to send a letter, he called her child of about five playing in the west wing of the Hon'in, told the child to show it to its mother, and wrote the poem on its arm. The Posthumous Chancellor was Fujiwara no Tokihira, and the Hon'in was his residence. The episode was also taken up in Tanizaki Jun'ichirō's novel Captain Shigemoto's Mother. The next poem, 711, is the woman's reply.
The poet, Taira no Sadafun, was a son of Taira no Yoshikaze and served as Assistant Commander of the Left Military Guards among other posts. Known as Heichū, a master of love, he is famed as the hero of the Heichū Monogatari.

The first line, "Mukashi seshi," means "made long ago."
The second line, "waga kanegoto no," means "my promise," "kanegoto" being words exchanged beforehand, a vow.
The third line, "kanashiki wa," means "what is sorrowful."
The fourth line, "ika ni chigirishi," means "how was it pledged," with "shi" the attributive form of the past auxiliary "ki."
The last line, "nagori naruran," means "is it the trace of," with "ran" conjecturing a cause. The second line of the next poem, 711, "tare chigiriken," takes up "chigirishi" from this poem.
Author: Taira no Sadafun
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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