Asukagawa kokoro no uchi ni nagarureba soko no shigarami itsuka yodoman - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

飛鳥河心の内に流るれば
底のしがらみいつかよどまん

Roma-ji: Asukagawa kokoro no uchi ni nagarureba soko no shigarami itsuka yodoman
English Translation: The Asuka River
flows within my very heart,
and so how could
the weir set at its bed
ever make it pause
Meaning: Since the Asuka River you speak of flows within my heart, when could any weir set on its bed ever make its current stall?
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems VI 1013

Headnote: "Composed when, after courting someone without success until it lapsed, he remembered her and called again, and she said, 'What an unsettled heart you have,' and sent him the sense of the Asuka River."
The poet says that since the Asuka River flows within his heart, no weir on its bed could ever make it stall. Told that his heart is as changeable as the Asuka River, he answers that the river flows on unceasing within him, so his feeling will never be dammed.
According to the headnote, he called again on someone he had courted in vain until it lapsed, and she called his heart unsettled and sent him the sense of the Asuka River. The river stands for changeability through the Kokinshu poem "yo no naka wa nani ka tsune naru asukagawa kinō no fuchi zo kyō wa se ni naru." 1067 in this book likewise speaks of the Asuka River after a woman calls the poet's heart unsettled, so poems on the same device are set in the first and second halves of the book.
The poet is listed as anonymous, and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Asukagawa," is the Asuka River in Yamato, a figure for changeability because its deeps and shallows shift. It is the same as the first line of 1067 in this book.
The second line, "kokoro no uchi ni," means "within my heart."
The third line, "nagarureba," means "since it flows," with "ba" after the perfective form marking a cause.
The fourth line, "soko no shigarami," means "the weir on the riverbed," standing for whatever might dam the current.
The last line, "itsuka yodoman," means "when would it ever stall," with "ka" a rhetorical binding particle closed by the attributive "n."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
Prev Poem: Omoitsutsu mada iisomenu waga koi o onaji kokoro ni shirasete shigana
Next Poem: Fuji no ne o yoso ni zo kikishi ima wa waga omoi ni moyuru keburi narikeri