Seki mo aezu namida no kawa no se o hayami kakaran mono to omoi ya wa seshi - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

せきもあへず涙の河の瀬を早み
かからんものと思ひやはせし

Roma-ji: Seki mo aezu namida no kawa no se o hayami kakaran mono to omoi ya wa seshi
English Translation: Not to be held back,
the river of my tears
runs so swift in its shallows—
that it would come to this
did I ever think at all
Meaning: The river of my tears runs so swiftly through its shallows that nothing can hold it back; did I ever imagine it would come to this?
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems VI 1058

Headnote: "Composed when, never able to meet the one he loved, he was forgotten."
The poet says that the river of tears runs so swiftly it cannot be dammed, and he never imagined it would come to this. Likening the sorrow of being forgotten without ever meeting to a river of tears that cannot be held back, he laments an outcome he never foresaw.
According to the headnote, he could never meet the one he loved and was forgotten. The next poem, 1059, also says "se o hayami," so two poems sharing the same line are set side by side.
The poet is listed as anonymous, and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Seki mo aezu," means "unable even to dam it," with "aezu" meaning that something cannot be carried through. It runs over to six syllables.
The second line, "namida no kawa no," means "of the river of tears," likening overflowing tears to a river.
The third line, "se o hayami," means "since its shallows run so swift," with "mi" a suffix marking a cause. It is the same as the first line of the next poem.
The fourth line, "kakaran mono to," means "that it would be like this."
The last line, "omoi ya wa seshi," means "did I ever think," with "ya wa" a rhetorical binding particle closed by the attributive "shi."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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Next Poem: Se o hayami taezu nagaruru mizu yori mo taesenu mono wa koi ni zo arikeru