Sugi tateru yado o zo hito wa tazunekeru kokoro no matsu wa kai nakarikeri - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

杉立てる宿をぞ人は尋ねける
心のまつはかひなかりけり

Roma-ji: Sugi tateru yado o zo hito wa tazunekeru kokoro no matsu wa kai nakarikeri
English Translation: To the house where cedars
stand, it was there my love
went visiting—
the pine of waiting in my heart
was all for nothing, then.
Meaning: It was to the house where the cedars stand that my love went calling; all my waiting, like a pine in my heart, came to nothing.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 866

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poem laments that the beloved went to visit another woman's house where cedars stand, and that the waiting in my heart was all in vain. Setting the "pine," matsu, of the heart against the landmark "cedar," it sings of the emptiness of waiting through a contrast of tree names.
It draws on the Kokinshū poem in the second book of miscellaneous poems, "My hut lies at the foot of Mount Miwa; if you long for me, come visit—the gate where the cedars stand," turning the house with the cedars into the home of another woman who calls the lover to her.

First line, "sugi tateru," means "where cedars stand," with "ru" the attributive of the continuative auxiliary "ri." It draws on "sugi tateru kado" of the Kokinshū poem on Mount Miwa.
Second line, "yado o zo hito wa," means "to that house, the one I love," emphasized by the binding particle "zo."
Third line, "tazunekeru," means "went to visit," concluding in "keru," the attributive of the past auxiliary "keri," in answer to "zo." The poem breaks here.
Fourth line, "kokoro no matsu wa," means "the waiting in my heart," with "matsu" a pivot word joining "pine" and "to wait." It pairs, as a tree name, with "sugi," cedar, in the first line.
Final line, "kai nakarikeri," means "it was all in vain," with "keri" expressing exclamation. It is the same line as the final line of 852 in this book, sharing the grief of waiting unrewarded.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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