Wasurenamu to omou kokoro no tsuku kara ni koto no ha sae ya ieba yuyushiki - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

忘れなむと思ふ心のつくからに
言の葉さへや言へばゆゆしき

Roma-ji: Wasurenamu to omou kokoro no tsuku kara ni koto no ha sae ya ieba yuyushiki
English Translation: Since your heart has turned
to thoughts of forgetting me,
is it, then, that even
to speak a single word
feels to you ill-omened
Meaning: Since your heart has now turned toward forgetting me, is it that even a single word, once spoken, seems to you ill-omened?
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems II 1152

Headnote: "When I questioned my wife, who had a secret lover, without harsh words, and she would not say anything."
The poet asks whether, now that her heart has turned to forgetting him, even a spoken word seems ill-omened to her. When his wife, who had secretly taken a lover, would not answer his gentle questioning, he laments that her estranged heart shrinks even from speaking to him.
According to the headnote, he questioned his wife, who had a secret lover, without harsh reproach, but she said nothing, and he composed this.
The poet is listed as anonymous, and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Wasurenamu to," means "to forget me," with "namu" the irrealis of the perfective "nu" plus the volitional "mu." It has an extra syllable.
The second line, "omou kokoro no," means "the heart that thinks."
The third line, "tsuku kara ni," means "just because it has taken hold," with "kara ni" expressing cause.
The fourth line, "koto no ha sae ya," means "even words," with "ya" an interrogative binding particle closed by the attributive "yuyushiki" in the last line.
The last line, "ieba yuyushiki," means "are ill-omened if spoken," closing the "ya" of the fourth line.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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