Mizutori no hakanaki ato ni toshi o hete kayou bakari no e ni koso arikere - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

水鳥のはかなきあとに年を経て
通ふばかりのえにこそありけれ

Roma-ji: Mizutori no hakanaki ato ni toshi o hete kayou bakari no e ni koso arikere
English Translation: In the fleeting tracks
left behind by water birds,
years have passed us by—
ours is a bond, like the inlet,
only crossed by passing notes
Meaning: Through traces as fleeting as the tracks of water birds, we have let the years go by—ours has been a bond in which only letters pass to and fro, like birds across an inlet.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems IV 836

Headnote: "Sent to someone with whom only letters had been exchanged for years."
The poet says that through traces as fleeting as water birds' tracks they have passed the years, and theirs has been a bond in which only letters pass back and forth. Lamenting years spent only exchanging letters without ever meeting, he overlaps them with the tracks of water birds and an inlet.
According to the headnote, the poem was sent to someone with whom only letters had been exchanged for years. The next poem, 837, is the reply, and the two form an exchange. 828 in this book likewise layers handwriting over the "ato," the tracks, of plovers.
The poet is listed as anonymous, and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Mizutori no," means "of water birds." The next poem, 837, replies by placing "mizutori no" in its third line.
The second line, "hakanaki ato ni," means "in fleeting traces," with "ato" meaning both water birds' "tracks" and the "brush traces" of letters.
The third line, "toshi o hete," means "passing the years."
The fourth line, "kayou bakari no," means "of only going back and forth," layering the birds' coming and going with the passage of letters.
The last line, "e ni koso arikere," means "was only such a bond," with "e" meaning both "inlet," where water birds live, and "bond." "Koso" is an emphatic binding particle closed by the perfective "kere."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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