Yamabiko wa kimi ni mo nitaru kokoro kana waga koe seneba otozure mo sezu - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

山彦は君にも似たる心かな
我が声せねばおとづれもせず

Roma-ji: Yamabiko wa kimi ni mo nitaru kokoro kana waga koe seneba otozure mo sezu
English Translation: How like yours, the heart
of the echo in the hills!
unless I call out,
it sends no sound back to me,
nor ever comes to call.
Meaning: How like you is the echo's heart! Unless I raise my voice, it sends back no sound and never comes to call.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 644

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poem says that the echo has a heart like the beloved's: unless the poet raises his voice, it neither sends back a sound nor comes to call. Overlaying "otozure" with the echo's "sound" and a person's "visit," it reproaches the coldness of one who sends no word unless he reaches out first, likening her to the nature of an echo. Where the preceding poem, 643, sang of an echo that does not answer, this poem likens the beloved to an echo that answers only when called, the two forming a pair on the echo's answering and not answering.

First line, "yamabiko wa," means "the echo," the same word as the first line of the preceding poem, 643, "yamabiko mo."
Second line, "kimi ni mo nitaru," means "is like you."
Third line, "kokoro kana," means "what a heart it has," and the poem breaks after this third line.
Fourth line, "waga koe seneba," means "unless I raise my voice," with "ne" the perfective form of the negative "zu."
Final line, "otozure mo sezu," is a pivot word: "otozure" means the echo sending back a "sound" and a person "coming to call." It answers the second line of the preceding poem, "kotaenu yama no."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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