Sumiyoshi no arahitogami ni chikaite mo wasururu kimi ga kokoro to zo kiku - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

住吉の現人神に誓ひても
忘るる君が心とぞ聞く

Roma-ji: Sumiyoshi no arahitogami ni chikaite mo wasururu kimi ga kokoro to zo kiku
English Translation: Though you swear your vows
before Sumiyoshi's god
who walks as a man,
yours is a heart, so I hear,
that forgets them all the same.
Meaning: Even if you swear by the living god of Sumiyoshi, I hear that yours is a heart that will forget the vow.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 869

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem reproaches a lover's fickleness: I hear that yours is a heart that forgets even a vow sworn before the living god of Sumiyoshi. It rebukes the partner's faithlessness, in which even a vow to the gods cannot be trusted, in the form of something heard by rumor.
The living god of Sumiyoshi is the deity of Sumiyoshi Shrine in Settsu Province, believed to appear in human form. Following the preceding poem, it belongs to the sequence touching on the gods, and from the next poem onward, poems of vows follow.

First line, "Sumiyoshi no," means "of Sumiyoshi" in Settsu Province. The first line of 888 in this book is also "Sumiyoshi no," the two Sumiyoshi poems answering each other.
Second line, "arahitogami ni," means "to the god who appears in human form," referring to the god of Sumiyoshi.
Third line, "chikaite mo," means "even if you swear," with "te mo" an adversative supposition. With "chikaiteshi" in the next poem, 870, and "chikaiken" in 871, poems of vows continue.
Fourth line, "wasururu kimi ga," means "your heart that forgets." It pairs with the first line of the next poem, 870, "wasuraruru," the one sung from the side of the one who forgets, the other from the side of the one forgotten.
Final line, "kokoro to zo kiku," means "so I hear of your heart," concluding in the attributive "kiku" in answer to the binding particle "zo."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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