Kaze fukeba taenu to miyuru kumo no i mo mata kakitsukade yamu to ya wa kiku - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

風吹けば絶えぬと見ゆる蜘蛛のいも
またかきつかでやむとやは聞く

Roma-ji: Kaze fukeba taenu to miyuru kumo no i mo mata kakitsukade yamu to ya wa kiku
English Translation: When the wind blows hard
the spider's thread may seem
to break and vanish—
but have you heard it ever ends
without being spun again
Meaning: When the wind blows, a spider's thread may seem to snap—but have you ever heard that it ends there, never to be spun again?
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems IV 1296

Headnote: "Reply."
The poet asks whether one has heard that a spider's thread, which seems broken when the wind blows, stops without being spun again. Taking up the spider-thread figure of the preceding poem, he comforts the woman that a bond that seems broken for a time will be joined again.
It seems to be the reply of the man's brother to the preceding poem.
The poet is anonymous and the name is not known. The text gives the poet as "yomibito mo," but it is treated here as anonymous.

The first line, "Kaze fukeba," means "when the wind blows."
The second line, "taenu to miyuru," means "that seems to have snapped," taking up "taenu to omoeba" in the last line of the preceding poem.
The third line, "kumo no i mo," means "even the spider's thread," taking up "sasagani" and "ito" in the preceding poem.
The fourth line, "mata kakitsukade," means "without being spun again."
The last line, "yamu to ya wa kiku," means "have you heard it ends? Never," with the rhetorical binding particle "ya wa" closed by the attributive "kiku."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
Prev Poem: Sasagani no sora ni sugakeru ito yori mo kokorobososhi ya taenu to omoeba
Next Poem: Na ni tachite Fushimi no sato to iu koto wa momiji o toko ni shikeba narikeri