Moru hito no aru to wa kikedo ausaka no seki mo todomenu waga namida kana - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

守る人のあるとは聞けど逢坂の
関もとどめぬ我が涙かな

Roma-ji: Moru hito no aru to wa kikedo ausaka no seki mo todomenu waga namida kana
English Translation: Someone guards the gate,
or so I hear, yet even
at Ausaka
the barrier cannot hold
these tears of mine from flowing
Meaning: I hear there is someone guarding the barrier, yet not even the Ausaka barrier can hold back these tears of mine.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems V 984

Headnote: "Reply."
The poet says that though he hears someone guards the barrier, not even the Ausaka barrier can hold back his tears. Though he has heard there is a new man at her side, he cannot stop his overflowing tears, and he voices the sorrow of parting.
It is the reply to the preceding poem, 983, and closes the four poems exchanged around the Ausaka barrier. Rephrasing the barrier guard of the earlier poems as "moru hito," and drawing on the barrier as something that holds back, he says his tears cannot be held back, bringing the sequence to an end.
The poet is listed as anonymous, and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Moru hito no," means "one who guards," rephrasing "sekimori" in the preceding poems.
The second line, "aru to wa kikedo," means "though I hear there is," with "do" an adversative conjunctive particle.
The third line, "ausaka no," means "of Ausaka," the word shared by all four poems of the sequence.
The fourth line, "seki mo todomenu," means "not even the barrier holds back," overlaying the barrier's stopping of travelers with the stopping of tears.
The last line, "waga namida kana," means "these tears of mine," with "kana" an exclamatory final particle.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
Prev Poem: Yukikaeri kite mo kikanan ausaka no seki ni kawareru hito mo ari ya to
Next Poem: Katsuragi ya kumeji ni watasu iwahashi no nakanaka nite mo kaerinuru kana