Omouramu kokoro no uchi o shiranu mi wa shinu bakari ni mo araji to zo omou - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

思ふらむ心の内を知らぬ身は
死ぬばかりにもあらじとぞ思ふ

Roma-ji: Omouramu kokoro no uchi o shiranu mi wa shinu bakari ni mo araji to zo omou
English Translation: Not knowing at all
what lies within your heart
that loves me, you say,
I can only think that it
cannot be enough to die.
Meaning: Since I do not know the heart within you that you say loves me, I can only think it is not so great that you would die of it.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 757

Headnote: "Composed in response to the Man'yōshū"
The poem says that since the poet does not know the heart within that is said to love, it cannot be a love great enough to die of. The headnote shows it was composed in response to a poem of the Man'yōshū. To one who protests suffering enough to die of love, it coolly answers that since the heart within cannot be known, it can hardly be so great. Placed after "omou na" in the preceding poem, 756, it forms an exchange over the loving heart.
The author, Minamoto no Shitagō, of the Saga Genji line, took part, as one of the Five Men of the Pear Chamber, in compiling the Gosenshū and in reading the Man'yōshū, and he compiled the dictionary Wamyō Ruijushō. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "omouramu," means "that you say loves me," with "ramu" expressing something heard, softly put. It answers the first line of the preceding poem, 756, "omou na to," in singing of the loving heart.
Second line, "kokoro no uchi o," means "what is within your heart."
Third line, "shiranu mi wa," means "I who do not know."
Fourth line, "shinu bakari ni mo," means "so much as to die," taking up the beloved's plea of dying for love.
Final line, "araji to zo omou," means "I think it cannot be," with "ji" an auxiliary of negative conjecture and the binding particle "zo" resolved by the attributive "omou."
Author: Minamoto no Shitagō
Source: Shui Wakashu
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