Mata sarishi aki wa kinuredo mishi hito no kokoro wa yoso ni nari mo yuku kana - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

また去りし秋は来ぬれど見し人の
心はよそになりもゆくかな

Roma-ji: Mata sarishi aki wa kinuredo mishi hito no kokoro wa yoso ni nari mo yuku kana
English Translation: The autumn that left
has come round to me again,
yet the one I knew—
his heart, it seems, is turning
away to somewhere else
Meaning: The autumn that once departed has come back again, yet the heart of the one I used to meet keeps drifting further and further away.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems IV 841

Headnote: "Sent to someone whose affection seemed to wane."
The poet says that the autumn that left has come again, but the heart of the one she met is growing distant. Setting the autumn that returns against a heart that drifts away and does not come back, she laments a change of heart.
According to the headnote, the poem was sent to someone whose affection seemed careless. The next poem, 842, is Minamoto no Koreshige's reply, and the two form an exchange. It is the second in the sequence singing of autumn images.
The poet, listed as "Nakaki's daughter," was the daughter of Taira no Nakaki, an official who served as a provincial governor among other posts. The Tales of Yamato tells of her love affair with the monk Jōzō.

The first line, "Mata sarishi," means "that once departed," with "shi" the attributive of the past auxiliary "ki."
The second line, "aki wa kinuredo," means "autumn has come again, and yet," with "do" adversative.
The third line, "mishi hito no," means "of the one I met."
The fourth line, "kokoro wa yoso ni," means "his heart, grown distant," contrasting the returning autumn with a departing heart.
The last line, "nari mo yuku kana," means "how it keeps becoming," with "kana" expressing emotion.
Author: Daughter of Taira no Nakaki
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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