Hodo mo naku izumi bakari ni shizumu mi wa ika naru tsumi no fukaki naru ran - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

ほどもなく泉ばかりに沈む身は
いかなる罪の深きなるらん

Roma-ji: Hodo mo naku izumi bakari ni shizumu mi wa ika naru tsumi no fukaki naru ran
English Translation: Without any depth,
in a mere spring of water
my body lies sunk—
what manner of grievous sin
runs so deep within me?
Meaning: Sunk in a mere spring with hardly any depth, what deep sin, I wonder, has brought me to this?
Commentary: Book Eight Miscellaneous Poems I 444

Headnote: "Presented together with screen poems offered in the reign of Retired Emperor En'yū"
The poet asks what deep sin has left him sunk in a spring of no great depth. The headnote shows it was offered alongside screen poems presented in the reign of Retired Emperor En'yū. Contrasting the shallowness of the spring with the depth of sin, he pleads to the emperor his misfortune in remaining sunk in a low rank. Taking up "sinks me ever deeper" from the preceding poem, 443, it likewise laments a sunken self.
The author, written as Shitagō, is Minamoto no Shitagō. Of the Saga Genji line, he was one of the Five Men of the Pear Chamber who compiled the Gosenshū and worked on reading the Man'yōshū. He wrote the Wamyō Ruijushō and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets. He once served as Governor of Izumi, and some read the province of Izumi into the word "izumi," spring.

First line, "hodo mo naku," means "with no great extent," here referring to the spring's lack of depth.
Second line, "izumi bakari ni," means "in a mere spring," likening a low rank to the shallow water of a spring.
Third line, "shizumu mi wa," means "my self that is sunk," repeating the word "sink" that runs from 441.
Fourth line, "ika naru tsumi no," means "what sin," seeking the cause of his misfortune in the depth of sins from a former life.
Final line, "fukaki naru ran," means "can be so deep," with "ran" an auxiliary conjecturing a cause. Setting the depth of sin against the shallowness of the spring, it closes on a contrast of shallow and deep.
Author: Minamoto no Shitagō
Source: Shui Wakashu
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