Mi wa hayaku Nara no miyako ni narinishi o koishiki koto no furi sezaruran - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

身は早く奈良の都になりにしを
恋しきことの古りせざるらん

Roma-ji: Mi wa hayaku Nara no miyako ni narinishi o koishiki koto no furi sezaruran
English Translation: Long since has my body
become like the Nara capital,
worn with the years, and yet
why is it that my longing
never grows old at all?
Meaning: My body has long since grown old like the old capital of Nara, so why is it that my longing alone never grows old?
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 861

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem laments that though my body has long since grown old like Nara, the former capital, why should my longing alone not grow old? It likens a love that does not fade even with age to Nara, left to grow old after the capital moved away.

First line, "mi wa hayaku," means "this body, long since."
Second line, "Nara no miyako ni," means "like the capital of Nara." Nara, left as an old capital after the court moved to Heian-kyō, serves as an image of something grown old.
Third line, "narinishi o," means "though it has become," with "ni" the continuative of the perfective "nu," "shi" the attributive of the past "ki," and "o" adversative.
Fourth line, "koishiki koto no," means "the longing."
Final line, "furi sezaruran," means "why does it not grow old," with "ran" conjecturing a cause. It pairs with the second line of the next poem, 862, "furinishi koi no," both singing of love "growing old": here a love that does not age, there a love grown old and godlike.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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