Ki ni mo oizu hane mo narabede nanishi ka mo namiji hedatete kimi o kiku ran - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

木にも生ひず羽も並べで何しかも
波路隔てて君を聞くらん

Roma-ji: Ki ni mo oizu hane mo narabede nanishi ka mo namiji hedatete kimi o kiku ran
English Translation: Not grown as one tree,
nor with our wings side by side,
why, then, must it be
that across the wave-tossed paths
I only hear word of you?
Meaning: We have not grown as branches of one tree, nor flown with wings side by side; why, then, must I only hear word of you from across the paths of the waves?
Commentary: Book Eight Miscellaneous Poems I 482

Headnote: "For the empress's screen of the Song of Everlasting Sorrow"
The poet asks why, having neither grown as branches joined on one tree nor flown wing to wing, she must only hear of her beloved from across the sea. The headnote shows it was written for Empress Onshi's screen depicting the Song of Everlasting Sorrow. Drawing on the scene in Bai Juyi's poem where Yang Guifei, dwelling after death on an immortals' mountain in the sea, recalls her vow with Emperor Xuanzong to be birds sharing wings in heaven and branches joined on earth, she sings, in Yang Guifei's voice, of the sorrow of a vow unfulfilled. Poem 487 of this book also draws on the sorcerer of the same poem.
The author, Ise, was a woman poet of the early to mid Heian period and a daughter of Fujiwara no Tsugikage. She served Onshi, empress of Emperor Uda, and became the mother of Nakatsukasa. She is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "ki ni mo oizu," means "not growing as one tree," six syllables, one too many. It draws on the joined branches of the Song of Everlasting Sorrow.
Second line, "hane mo narabede," means "without our wings side by side," drawing on the birds sharing wings, with "de" a negative conjunctive particle.
Third line, "nanishi ka mo," means "why," with "ka" a questioning particle.
Fourth line, "namiji hedatete," means "across the sea paths," the distance between the immortals' mountain in the sea where Yang Guifei dwells and the capital where Xuanzong is.
Final line, "kimi o kiku ran," means "must I only hear of you," resolving "ka" with the attributive "ran."
Author: Ise
Source: Shui Wakashu
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