Oyamada no mizu naranaku ni kaku bakari nagaresomete wa taen mono ka wa - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

小山田の水ならなくにかくばかり
流れそめては絶えんものかは

Roma-ji: Oyamada no mizu naranaku ni kaku bakari nagaresomete wa taen mono ka wa
English Translation: I am not the stream
that feeds a little hill field,
and once begun
to flow as strong as this,
how could it ever run dry
Meaning: I am not like the water of a little hillside field; once it has begun to flow as it does now, how could it ever run dry?
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems VI 1010

Headnote: "Composed when a woman he was seeing in secret wrote to ask why he sent no word."
The poet says that his love is not like the water of a hillside field, and once it has begun to flow so strongly it could never run dry. Unlike the water of a small field that soon dries up, the feeling that has once begun to flow will not stop, he answers, seeking to set her heart at ease.
According to the headnote, the woman he was seeing in secret wrote to ask why he sent no word. In this book the Asuka River of 1013 and the never-ceasing stream of 1059 likewise speak through flowing water of a love that does not end.
The poet, listed as "the Minister of the Right," is Fujiwara no Morosuke. The second son of the Regent Fujiwara no Tadahira, he rose to Minister of the Right. His daughter Anshi became empress to Emperor Murakami, and his descendants flourished as the regents' house. He was called Kujō-dono and left the diary Kyūreki.

The first line, "Oyamada no," means "of a little hillside field," with "o" a prefix.
The second line, "mizu naranaku ni," means "since it is not the water," with "nakuni" adding feeling to a negative and marking contrast. It rests on the way the water drawn to a hillside field soon runs dry.
The third line, "kaku bakari," means "as much as this."
The fourth line, "nagaresomete wa," means "once it has begun to flow," likening the welling up of love to a flowing stream.
The last line, "taen mono ka wa," means "how could it cease," with "ka wa" rhetorical. "Tae," to cease, is used in keeping with the water.
Author: Fujiwara no Morosuke
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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