Oto ni kiku Koma no watari no urizukuri to nari kaku nari naru kokoro kana - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

音に聞く狛の渡りの瓜作り
となりかくなりなる心かな

Roma-ji: Oto ni kiku Koma no watari no urizukuri to nari kaku nari naru kokoro kana
English Translation: Like the melon grower
of Koma's ford, famed by report,
a heart that ripens
this way and that way, turning
into whatever it may!
Meaning: Like the famed melon grower of Koma's ford, whose melons ripen this way and that, yours is a heart that turns into one thing and then another.
Commentary: Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems II 557

Headnote: "When Kuniaki of the Third Rank placed a small melon on a fan and had Fujiwara no Kanenori carry it to Major Counselor Asateru, then Assistant Commander of the Military Guards"
The poet says that like the famous melon grower of Koma's ford, the heart turns this way and that. The headnote shows it was written when Kuniaki placed a small melon on a fan and had Fujiwara no Kanenori carry it to Asateru, then Assistant Commander of the Military Guards. Drawing on the melon grower of Koma's ford sung of in the saibara song "Yamashiro," and laying melons "ripening" over a heart "becoming" this or that, it playfully reproaches his friend's fickle heart. Together with Asateru's reply in the next poem, 558, it forms an exchange.
The author, Kuniaki of the Third Rank, is Fujiwara no Kuniaki. A son of Fujiwara no Motona, he served as Provisional Master of the Empress Dowager's Household among other posts and rose to the Junior Third Rank.

First line, "oto ni kiku," means "famed by report," sharing the same line with the first line of the preceding poem, 556, "oto ni kiku."
Second line, "Koma no watari no," means "of the ford at Koma" in Yamashiro Province, known as a place for melons.
Third line, "urizukuri," means "melon grower," drawing on the melon grower in the saibara song "Yamashiro." Up to here the lines act as a preface leading into the fourth line.
Fourth line, "to nari kaku nari," means "becoming this way and that," layering "naru," the ripening of melons, to speak of a heart that will not settle.
Final line, "naru kokoro kana," means "a heart that turns so," with "kana" exclamatory. Together with the fourth line, it repeats the sounds "nari," "nari," "naru," which are carried into the second line of the next poem, 558, "narunaru uri no."
Author: Fujiwara no Kuniaki
Source: Shui Wakashu
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