Oshimu tomo katashi ya wakare kokoro naru namida o dani mo e ya wa todomuru - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

惜しむともかたしや別れ心なる
涙をだにもえやはとどむる

Roma-ji: Oshimu tomo katashi ya wakare kokoro naru namida o dani mo e ya wa todomuru
English Translation: Though we grieve for it,
parting is hard to hold back;
the tears that well up
from our own hearts, even these—
can we keep them from falling?
Meaning: However much we grieve, parting is hard to prevent; can we stop even the tears that flow from our own hearts?
Commentary: Book Six Parting Poems 322

Headnote: "At the farewell for the same imperial nurse, when the courtiers of the Privy Chamber, the ladies-in-waiting, and others lamented the parting"
The poet says that however much one grieves, parting is hard to prevent, for one cannot stop even the tears that come from one's own heart. Citing the inability to check even tears, which should be under one's own control, she laments that still less can a person's departure be prevented. According to the headnote, it was composed at the same farewell for the nurse Higo as the preceding poem, when courtiers and ladies-in-waiting lamented the parting. The headnote in the source text has a slightly different wording, which is read here as "the ladies-in-waiting and others."
The author, called Shōnagon the imperial nurse, was a lady who served as a nurse to Emperor Murakami, and little is known of her life.

First line, "oshimu tomo," means "even if we grieve," with "tomo" expressing a concessive supposition. The first lines of 316 and 329 in this book also begin with "oshimu."
Second line, "katashi ya wakare," means "how hard it is, parting," the subject "wakare" placed after by inversion. The poem pauses here. 303 of this book wished to hold back the traveler with falling blossoms, but here parting is lamented as hard to hold back.
Third line, "kokoro naru," means "that are within our hearts."
Fourth line, "namida o dani mo," means "even the tears," with "dani" naming a slight thing to suggest a heavier one.
Final line, "e ya wa todomuru," means "can we stop them," with "e" expressing possibility and "ya wa" a rhetorical question, resolved by the attributive "todomuru." It takes up "todomegatami" in the preceding poem.
Author: Shōnagon, Imperial Nurse
Source: Shui Wakashu
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