Shirakumo no yukubeki yama wa sadamarazu omou kata ni mo kaze wa yosenan - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

白雲のゆくべき山は定まらず
思ふ方にも風は寄せなん

Roma-ji: Shirakumo no yukubeki yama wa sadamarazu omou kata ni mo kaze wa yosenan
English Translation: The white clouds have yet
no mountain they must go to,
nothing is settled—
so toward the one I love
may the wind blow them too
Meaning: The white clouds have no fixed mountain they must go to; may the wind at least drive them toward the one I long for.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems VI 1065

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet says that since the mountain the white clouds will go to is not fixed, he wishes the wind would carry them toward the one he loves. Likening the beloved's heart to a white cloud whose course no one knows, he prays to the wind to turn it toward him.
Where 998 and 1025 in this book spoke of a distant beloved through the clouds of heaven, this poem speaks through a drifting white cloud of a heart not yet turned anywhere.
The poet is listed as anonymous, and the composer's name has not come down to us.
The author is given in the original as "yomibito mo," which, as in the preceding poem, is taken to mean "anonymous."

The first line, "Shirakumo no," means "of the white clouds," standing for the beloved's heart, whose course is unsettled.
The second line, "yukubeki yama wa," means "the mountain they should go to."
The third line, "sadamarazu," means "is not fixed," and the poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "omou kata ni mo," means "toward the one I love as well."
The last line, "kaze wa yosenan," means "may the wind drive them," with "nan" a final particle of wishing that another will act.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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