Nagakaraji to omou kokoro wa mizu no awa ni yosouru hito no tanomarenu kana - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

長からじと思ふ心は水の泡に
よそふる人の頼まれぬかな

Roma-ji: Nagakaraji to omou kokoro wa mizu no awa ni yosouru hito no tanomarenu kana
English Translation: That it won't last long
is what my heart tells me,
for one who would liken
his love to foam on water
is not one that I can trust.
Meaning: I feel this love will not last long, for one who likens his heart to foam upon the water is not someone I can trust.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 637

Headnote: "Reply"
The poem retorts that one who likens his love to foam upon the water cannot be trusted, and that such a love will surely not last long. The headnote shows it is the reply to the preceding poem, 636. Turning the "foam on the water" of that poem against him, it rejects his words, saying a love likened to vanishing foam can hardly endure.
The author, written as "the Consort, daughter of the Tsutsumi Middle Counselor," is Fujiwara no Kuwako. A daughter of Fujiwara no Kanesuke, called the Tsutsumi Middle Counselor, she became a consort of Emperor Daigo and bore Prince Akiakira.

First line, "nagakaraji to," means "that it will not last long," with "ji" an auxiliary of negative conjecture. It is a hypermetric line of six syllables.
Second line, "omou kokoro wa," means "my heart that thinks so."
Third line, "mizu no awa ni," means "to foam on the water," taking up the third line of the preceding poem, 636, "mizu no awa no."
Fourth line, "yosouru hito no," means "one who likens," pointing to the author of the preceding poem.
Final line, "tanomarenu kana," means "cannot be trusted," with "re" the irrealis form of the potential auxiliary "ru," "nu" the attributive form of the negative "zu," and "kana" exclamatory.
Author: Fujiwara no Kuwako
Source: Shui Wakashu
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