classic waka stream

限りなく思ひながらの橋柱
思ひながらになかや絶えなん
Roma-ji

Kagiri naku omoi Nagara no hashibashira omoinagara ni naka ya taenan

English Translation
Loving without end,
like the pillars of Nagara's
old bridge, even so,
even as I love, will our bond
break off in the middle?
Meaning
Though I love you beyond all measure, will the bond between us, like the old pillars of the bridge of Nagara, break off even as I go on loving?
Commentary
Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 864

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem fears that though I love without limit, like the old and rotting bridge of Nagara, our bond may break off even as I love. Setting "nagara" as both a place-name and a conjunctive particle and repeating it twice, it lays love and a foreboding of parting one upon the other.
The bridge of Nagara spanned the Yodo River in Settsu Province and was a poetic site known from long ago as a bridge decayed until only traces remained. Following the preceding poem, it is the second in the sequence of bridge poems.

First line, "kagiri naku," means "without limit, beyond all measure."
Second line, "omoi Nagara no," is a pivot word joining "nagara," while loving, and the place-name Nagara.
Third line, "hashibashira," means "the pillars of the bridge of Nagara." From the first line to here leads by sound to the fourth line, "omoinagara ni."
Fourth line, "omoinagara ni," means "even as I love," repeating "omoi nagara" of the second line and doubling the music.
Final line, "naka ya taenan," means "will our bond break off," with "naka" a pivot word joining the middle of the pillars and the bond between lovers. It concludes in the conjectural "nan" in answer to the binding particle "ya." It uses the same "naka" and "tayu" as the final line of the preceding poem, 863, "naka no taema wa."
Author
Unknown Poet
Source
Shui Wakashu
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