Wasuraruru toki shi nakereba haru no ta o kaesugaesu zo hito wa koishiki - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

忘らるる時しなければ春の田を
かへすがへすぞ人は恋しき

Roma-ji: Wasuraruru toki shi nakereba haru no ta o kaesugaesu zo hito wa koishiki
English Translation: Since there is no time
when I could ever forget,
as the spring rice field
is turned over and again,
so again I long for you.
Meaning: Since there is never a time I can forget, as the spring field is turned over again and again, so again and again I long for that person.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 811

Headnote: "A poem for a folding screen in the fifteenth year of Engi"
The poem says that since there is no time when one can forget, one longs for that person again and again, as one turns over the spring rice field. The headnote shows it was composed for a folding screen in the fifteenth year of Engi (915). Taking in the scene of tilling the spring field painted on the screen, it sings of a longing that returns without end.
The author, "Tsurayuki," is Ki no Tsurayuki, the central compiler of the Kokinshū, author of its Kana Preface, and writer of the Tosa Diary. He is one of the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "wasuraruru," means "able to forget," with "ruru" the attributive form of the potential auxiliary "ru."
Second line, "toki shi nakereba," means "since there is no time," with "shi" an emphatic particle.
Third line, "haru no ta o," means "the spring rice field," leading to "kaesu" from the turning of the soil. It shares the spring field with the second line of the next poem, 812, "haru no arata o."
Fourth line, "kaesugaesu zo," is a pivot word: "kaesu" means turning over the soil of the field, and "kaesugaesu" means again and again. It shares the word "kaesu" with the third line of the next poem, 812, "uchikaeshi."
Final line, "hito wa koishiki," means "I long for that person," concluding in the attributive form "koishiki" in answer to "zo." It is nearly the same ending as the final line of the next poem, "hito zo koishiki."
Author: Ki no Tsurayuki
Source: Shui Wakashu
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