Oto ni kiku hito ni kokoro o Tsukubane no minedo koishiki kimi ni mo aru kana - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

音に聞く人に心をつくばねの
みねど恋しき君にもあるかな

Roma-ji: Oto ni kiku hito ni kokoro o Tsukubane no minedo koishiki kimi ni mo aru kana
English Translation: To one known by rumor
I have spent my heart away,
Tsukuba's peak,
though I have not seen you yet,
how dear to me you are!
Meaning: I have given my heart to one I know only by rumor; like the peak of Mount Tsukuba, you are dear to me though I have never seen you.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 627

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem says that the poet has spent his heart on one known only by rumor, and like the peak of Mount Tsukuba, the beloved is dear to him though unseen. Pivoting "tsukubane" on giving one's heart away and "mine" on "peak" and "not seeing," it sings of a love for someone never met, longed for through rumor alone. Using the word "oto," sound or rumor, as does the next poem, 628, "oto ni nomi ya wa," it continues the poems of a love known only by rumor.

First line, "oto ni kiku," means "known by rumor," sharing the theme of a love known only by rumor with the fourth line of the next poem, 628, "oto ni nomi ya wa," and the first line of 641, "oto ni nomi."
Second line, "hito ni kokoro o," means "my heart, to that person."
Third line, "Tsukubane no," is a pivot word: "tsuku" means giving one's heart away and is part of "Tsukubane," Mount Tsukuba, a poetic place in Hitachi Province.
Fourth line, "minedo koishiki," is a pivot word: "mine" means the "peak" of Mount Tsukuba and "not seeing," meaning "dear though unseen." "Tsukubane no" in the third line leads into "mine" of the same sound.
Final line, "kimi ni mo aru kana," means "that is what you are," with "kana" exclamatory.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
Prev Poem: Au koto o matsu nite toshi no henuru kana mi wa Suminoe ni oinu mono yue
Next Poem: Amagumo no yaegumogakure narukami no oto ni nomi ya wa kikiwataru beki