Kazuragi ya kumeji no hashi ni araba koso omou kokoro o nakazora ni seme - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

葛城や久米路の橋にあらばこそ
思ふ心を中空にせめ

Roma-ji: Kazuragi ya kumeji no hashi ni araba koso omou kokoro o nakazora ni seme
English Translation: Were I the bridge
at Kumeji on Mount Kazuragi,
then, and only then,
would I leave this heart of love
hanging halfway in the air
Meaning: Only if I were the bridge of Kumeji on Mount Kazuragi, left unfinished, would I leave my loving heart suspended halfway, in midair.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems III 774

Headnote: "He had been courting someone who was cold to him, so he gave up in despair. Later, remembering her, he wrote again, and when her reply said he seemed half-hearted, he composed this."
The poet says that only if he were the bridge of Kumeji at Kazuragi would he leave his love hanging halfway. Citing the legendary bridge left unfinished, he pleads that his love is not something to be abandoned midway.
According to the headnote, he had been exchanging words with someone he loved, but she was cold, so he despaired and stopped. Remembering her later, he wrote again, and when her reply called him fickle, he composed this poem. The Kumeji bridge is the stone bridge that En no Gyōja is said to have ordered Hitokotonushi, the god of Mount Kazuragi, to build, though it was never finished.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Kazuragi ya," means "on Mount Kazuragi in Yamato," with "ya" an exclamatory interjection.
The second line, "kumeji no hashi ni," means "the bridge of Kumeji," drawing on the legend of an unfinished bridge.
The third line, "araba koso," means "only if I were," with "koso" an emphatic particle.
The fourth line, "omou kokoro o," means "my loving heart."
The last line, "nakazora ni seme," means "would I leave it halfway," closing with the perfective "me" in answer to "koso" in the third line, a kakarimusubi pattern. "Nakazora," midair, is associated with the half-built bridge hanging in space.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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