Asukagawa sekite todomuru mono naraba fuchise ni naru to nado ka iwaren - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

飛鳥河せきてとどむるものならば
淵瀬になるとなどか言はれん

Roma-ji: Asukagawa sekite todomuru mono naraba fuchise ni naru to nado ka iwaren
English Translation: The Asuka River—
if one could dam its current
and make it stay,
why would anyone say
its deeps turn into shallows
Meaning: If one could dam the Asuka River and hold its current still, why would anyone ever say that its deeps turn into shallows?
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems VI 1067

Headnote: "Sent when a woman told him that his heart was unsettled."
The poet asks why, if the Asuka River could be dammed and held, anyone would say its deeps become shallows. Saying that even the changeable Asuka River would not shift if someone held back its flow, he retorts that if his heart is unsettled, it is because she does not keep him.
According to the headnote, he sent it when a woman told him his heart was unsettled. 1013 in this book likewise speaks of the Asuka River after the poet is called inconstant, so poems on the same device answer each other in the first and second halves of the book. It draws on the Kokinshu poem "yo no naka wa nani ka tsune naru asukagawa kinō no fuchi zo kyō wa se ni naru."
The poet, listed as "the Posthumous Chancellor," is Fujiwara no Tokihira. The eldest son of Fujiwara no Mototsune, he rose to Minister of the Left and was posthumously granted the title of Chancellor, hence the name. He is known for having Sugawara no Michizane exiled to Dazaifu.

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 1013 in this book.
The second line, "sekite todomuru," means "to dam and hold it," standing for the beloved keeping him at her side.
The third line, "mono naraba," means "if it were a thing that could be."
The fourth line, "fuchise ni naru to," means "that the deeps become shallows," drawing on "kinō no fuchi zo kyō wa se ni naru" in the old poem. "Fuchise" also appears in the second line of 1027 in this book.
The last line, "nado ka iwaren," means "why would it be said," with "nado ka" rhetorical and closed by the attributive "n."
Author: Fujiwara no Tokihira
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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