Sorame o zo kimi wa mitarashi kawa no mizu asashi ya fukashi sore wa ware ka wa - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

空目をぞ君はみたらし河の水
浅しや深しそれは我かは

Roma-ji: Sorame o zo kimi wa mitarashi kawa no mizu asashi ya fukashi sore wa ware ka wa
English Translation: It was a false sight
that you saw, like the waters
of Mitarashi;
are they shallow or deep? and
that one, was it me? Not so!
Meaning: You must have seen wrongly, as one cannot tell the waters of Mitarashi River shallow from deep; was that really me? Surely not!
Commentary: Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems II 534

Headnote: "When she had gone to worship at Kamo, a man saw her and sent word, 'Hide no more, I saw you very well'"
The poet retorts that he must have seen wrongly, and that it could not have been her. The headnote shows it answered a man who saw Ise as she worshipped at the Kamo Shrine and sent word that she should hide no longer, for he had seen her well. Pivoting on "mitarashi," "must have seen," and the Mitarashi River of the Kamo Shrine, she brings up whether its waters are shallow or deep and lightly dodges the man's words.
The author, Ise, was a daughter of Fujiwara no Tsugukage, Governor of Ise, and served Onshi, empress of Emperor Uda. She is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets and is known for her poem "Naniwagata" in the Hyakunin Isshu.

First line, "sorame o zo," means "a false sight," with the binding particle "zo" resolved by "rashi," the conjectural auxiliary in "mitarashi" in the second line, in its attributive form.
Second line, "kimi wa mitarashi," means "you must have seen," with "mitarashi" a pivot word on "must have seen" and the Mitarashi River of the Kamo Shrine.
Third line, "kawa no mizu," means "the water of the river," turning from the pivot word in the second line to the water of the Mitarashi River.
Fourth line, "asashi ya fukashi," means "shallow or deep," overlaying the man's mistake on being unable to tell how deep the water is.
Final line, "sore wa ware ka wa," means "was that me? surely not," with "ka wa" rhetorical.
Author: Ise
Source: Shui Wakashu
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