Omowamu to ware o tanomeshi koto no ha wa wasuregusa to zo ima wa narurashi - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

思はむと我を頼めし言の葉は
忘れ草とぞ今はなるらし

Roma-ji: Omowamu to ware o tanomeshi koto no ha wa wasuregusa to zo ima wa narurashi
English Translation: "I will love you"—so
you said, and made me trust you;
now those leaves of speech
seem to have changed, I fear,
into the grass of forgetting
Meaning: Those words with which you made me trust you, saying you would always love me, seem now to have turned into the grass of forgetting.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems V 921

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet says the words by which the lover made her trust him, promising to love her always, seem now to have become the grass of forgetting. Seeing words as leaves of speech and so as grass, she laments that the vow of love has somehow turned into forgetting.
Like 919 and 920 before it, it is a love poem on words. Where those two treat the sweetness and pain of the words "I love you," this one tells of what comes after those words have turned into the grass of forgetting.
The poet is listed as anonymous, and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Omowamu to," means "saying 'I will love you,'" with "mu" expressing intention.
The second line, "ware o tanomeshi," means "with which you made me trust," "tanome" being the lower bigrade form meaning to make someone rely on you.
The third line, "koto no ha wa," means "those words," with "ha," leaf, related to "kusa," grass, in the fourth line.
The fourth line, "wasuregusa to zo," means "into the grass of forgetting," with "zo" an emphatic binding particle.
The last line, "ima wa narurashi," means "seem now to have become," with "rashi" an inference based on evidence.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
Prev Poem: Omou chō koto koso ukere kuretake no yo ni furu hito no iwanu nakereba
Next Poem: Ima made mo kiede aritsuru tsuyu no mi wa okubeki yado no areba narikeri