Shiite yuku koma no ashi oru hashi o dani nado waga yado ni watasazariken - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

強ひて行く駒の足折る橋をだに
などわが宿に渡さざりけん

Roma-ji: Shiite yuku koma no ashi oru hashi o dani nado waga yado ni watasazariken
English Translation: Pressing to be gone,
a bridge to break your horse's legs—
at least such a bridge,
why did I never think
to lay it at my door
Meaning: If only I had built, at least, a bridge at my house that would break the legs of your horse as you insist on leaving—why did I never do it?
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems V 939

Headnote: "Composed when a man she wished would stay went away."
The poet asks why she never built at her house at least a bridge that would break the legs of his horse as he insists on leaving. She voices her chagrin at the departure of a man she wished to keep, through the bold conceit of regretting that she had not laid a bridge to cripple his horse and stop him.
According to the headnote, she composed it when a man she hoped would stay went away. Poems speaking of a lover's visits through a bridge also appear in 985 and 986 in this book, with the stone bridge of Kumeji.
The poet is listed as anonymous, and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Shiite yuku," means "going away by force," the man who shakes off her efforts to keep him.
The second line, "koma no ashi oru," means "that would break the horse's legs."
The third line, "hashi o dani," means "at least a bridge," with "dani" an adverbial particle marking the least that might serve. The poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "nado waga yado ni," means "why, at my house," with "nado" an interrogative adverb.
The last line, "watasazariken," means "did I not lay it," with "ken," a form of "kemu," guessing at a cause in the past.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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