Yamagatsu no kakiho ni ouru nadeshiko ni omoi yosoenu toki no ma zo naki - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

山がつの垣ほに生ふるなでしこに
思ひよそへぬ時の間ぞなき

Roma-ji: Yamagatsu no kakiho ni ouru nadeshiko ni omoi yosoenu toki no ma zo naki
English Translation: To the pinks that grow
by the mountain dweller's fence,
the darling flower,
there is not a single moment
I do not liken you in thought.
Meaning: There is not a single moment when I do not liken you, in my thoughts, to the pinks growing by a mountain dweller's fence.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 830

Headnote: "In the reign of Tenryaku, when the Hirohata Consort had long not come to the palace, written in a letter sent to her"
The poem says that there is not a moment when one does not liken the beloved to the pinks growing by a mountain dweller's fence. The headnote shows that in the reign of Tenryaku, when the Hirohata Consort had long not come to the palace, the emperor sent it with a letter. Laying the beloved consort over the sweet pinks, it conveys a heart that thinks of her without pause.
The author, "Imperial Poem," is a poem by Emperor Murakami, as the headnote's reign of Tenryaku shows. A son of Emperor Daigo, his reign was praised as the Tenryaku era of good rule, and he established a poetry office in the Pear Chamber and ordered the compilation of the Gosenshū.

First line, "yamagatsu no," means "of a mountain dweller."
Second line, "kakiho ni ouru," means "growing by the fence."
Third line, "nadeshiko ni," is a pivot word: "nadeshiko" means the "pink" flower and "nadeshi ko," a child stroked and cherished. It shares the pink with "tokonatsu" in the next poem, 831.
Fourth line, "omoi yosoenu," means "not likening in my thoughts." It shares "yosou" with the fourth line of 789, "nani ni yosoete," and where that poem laments losing anything to liken the beloved to, this one says the beloved is always likened to the pink, forming a pair.
Final line, "toki no ma zo naki," means "there is not a moment," concluding in the attributive form "naki" in answer to "zo." 810 in this book is the Hirohata Consort's poem longing for the spring of former days, so that the consort's poem and the emperor's answer each other within this book.
Author: Emperor Murakami
Source: Shui Wakashu
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