Kakute nomi Ariso no ura no hamachidori yoso ni nakitsutsu koi ya wataramu - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

かくてのみありその浦の浜千鳥
よそになきつつ恋ひやわたらむ

Roma-ji: Kakute nomi Ariso no ura no hamachidori yoso ni nakitsutsu koi ya wataramu
English Translation: Shall I go on so,
like the plovers of the shore
on Ariso's beach,
crying ever from afar,
and longing all my days?
Meaning: Shall I go on like this, like the plovers on the rough shore of Ariso, crying from afar as I keep on longing?
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 631

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem asks whether the poet will go on like this, crying from afar and longing, like the plovers of the rough shore. Pivoting "ariso" on "ari," to be, and "ariso," rough shore, and "naki" on the plovers' crying and his own weeping, it likens himself, weeping because he cannot meet her, to plovers that cry from afar without drawing near. The calling bird of 643 also ends "naki ya wataramu," singing of a love that goes on weeping through a bird.

First line, "kakute nomi," means "only like this."
Second line, "Ariso no ura no," is a pivot word: "ariso" means "remaining" just like this and "ariso," a rough rocky shore.
Third line, "hamachidori," the plovers of the beach, leads into "naki" in the fourth line.
Fourth line, "yoso ni nakitsutsu," is a pivot word: "naki" means the plovers "crying" and the poet's own "weeping," with "yoso ni" meaning "from afar." It shares the word "yoso" with the first line of the next poem, 632, "yoso ni nomi."
Final line, "koi ya wataramu," means "shall I go on longing," with the binding particle "ya" interrogative and resolved by the attributive "mu." It is the same form as the final line of 643, "naki ya wataramu."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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