Hamachidori kai nakarikeri tsure mo naki hito no atari wa nakiwataredomo - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

浜千鳥かひなかりけりつれもなき
人のあたりはなきわたれども

Roma-ji: Hamachidori kai nakarikeri tsure mo naki hito no atari wa nakiwataredomo
English Translation: Like the plover on the beach,
it brought me no gain, no shell,
though round the one
who cares for me not at all
I go crying, back and forth
Meaning: Like a plover on the beach that finds no shells, it has brought me nothing, though I go crying back and forth around the one who is so cold to me.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1091

Headnote: "A woman I had known showed no regard for me and went off to another man who loved her; still I sent word that I wished to talk with her, but she did not even reply."
The poet says that, like a plover crying along a beach with no shells, it was all in vain, though he goes crying back and forth around the cold one. Still clinging to the woman who left him, he entrusts to the plover the emptiness of pleading with no answer.
According to the headnote, a woman he had been close to paid him no heed and went off with another man who loved her; he sent word that he still wished to speak with her, but she did not reply.
The poet is listed as anonymous, and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Hamachidori," is the plover on the beach, a figure for the poet himself.
The second line, "kai nakarikeri," means "it was in vain," with "kai" joining worth and, in keeping with the plover, shell. "Keri" is exclamatory, and the poem pauses here.
The third line, "tsure mo naki," means "cold-hearted."
The fourth line, "hito no atari wa," means "around that person."
The last line, "nakiwataredomo," means "though I go crying across," with "naki" joining the plover's call and his own weeping. "Domo" is adversative, and the line supplies after the fact the cause of the lament in the second line.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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