Fururu mi wa namida no uchi ni miyureba ya nagara no hashi ni ayamataruran - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

ふるる身は涙の中に見ゆればや
ながらの橋にあやまたるらん

Roma-ji: Fururu mi wa namida no uchi ni miyureba ya nagara no hashi ni ayamataruran
English Translation: Is it that this self,
grown old, appears to them
amid a flood of tears,
that they take it by mistake
for the Nagara Bridge
Meaning: Is it because this aging self appears amid a flood of tears that it is mistaken for the Bridge of Nagara?
Commentary: Book Fifteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1118

Headnote: "Reply."
The poet asks whether it is because the aging self appears amid tears that it is mistaken for the Bridge of Nagara. Taking up the lament of the bridge in the preceding poem, she answers that it looks so precisely because it stands in a stream of tears, like a bridge over a river, and so shares in the empress's grief.
It is Ise's reply to the Shichijō Empress's poem before it.
The poet, Ise, was a daughter of Fujiwara no Tsugikage, governor of Ise, and served the Shichijō Empress, Fujiwara no Onshi. She won the favor of Emperor Uda and later bore Nakatsukasa to Prince Atsuyoshi. One of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals, she is represented in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu by "Naniwagata mijikaki ashi no fushi no ma mo."

The first line, "Fururu mi wa," means "this self growing old," with "furu" meaning to age over the years.
The second line, "namida no uchi ni," means "amid tears," overlaying tears with the water of a river, in keeping with the bridge.
The third line, "miyureba ya," means "is it because it appears," with "ya" an interrogative binding particle closed by the attributive "ran" in the last line.
The fourth line, "nagara no hashi ni," means "for the Nagara Bridge," taking up "nagara no hashi to" in the fourth line of the preceding poem.
The last line, "ayamataruran," means "is it mistaken," with "ru" the passive and "ran" conjecture about a cause, closing the "ya" of the third line.
Author: Ise
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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