Nagareyoru sese no shiranami asakereba tomaru inafune kaeru narubeshi - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

流れ寄る瀬々の白波浅ければ
とまるいな舟かへるなるべし

Roma-ji: Nagareyoru sese no shiranami asakereba tomaru inafune kaeru narubeshi
English Translation: The white waves that flow
over the shallows, here and there,
run so shallow
that the rice boat meant to stay
must surely turn back again
Meaning: Because the white waves that flow over the shallows are so shallow, even the rice boat that might have stayed will surely turn back—as my heart turns back from your shallow love.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems IV 838

Headnote: "From a woman to whom he had been sending letters came the reply 'inafune no'; trusting in it, he went on courting her, but she still seemed hard to meet and said 'a little while'; when he asked 'why is it so,' this was sent in answer."
The poet says that because the white waves over the shallows are so shallow, even the rice boat that should stay will surely turn back. Likening the shallowness of his feelings to the shallows, she answers from the woman's side that this is why her heart, too, turns back.
According to the headnote, a woman to whom a man had been writing replied "inafune no," so he trusted in it and kept courting her, but she still seemed hard to meet and said "a little while," and when he asked why, she sent this poem in reply. "Inafune no" quotes an Eastern poem in the Kokin Wakashū, "mogamigawa noboreba kudaru inafune no ina ni wa arazu kono tsuki bakari," conveying that she was not unwilling but asked him to wait just this month. The next poem, 839, is the Sanjō Minister of the Right's reply, and the two form an exchange.
The poet is listed as anonymous, and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Nagareyoru," means "flowing in."
The second line, "sese no shiranami," means "white waves over the shallows here and there."
The third line, "asakereba," means "because they are shallow," implicitly reproaching the shallowness of his love. The next poem, 839, answers shallowness with depth in "fukaki ni mo."
The fourth line, "tomaru inafune," means "the rice boat that would stay," with "ina" echoing "ina," no, from the Kokin Wakashū poem.
The last line, "kaeru narubeshi," means "will surely turn back," layering a boat turning back with a heart turning away. The next poem, 839, answers with the same word in "kaeru naru kana."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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Next Poem: Mogamigawa fukaki ni mo aezu inafune no kokoro karoku mo kaeru naru kana