Namidagawa otsuru minakami hayakereba seki zo kanetsuru sode no shigarami - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

涙川落つる水上早ければ
堰きぞかねつる袖のしがらみ

Roma-ji: Namidagawa otsuru minakami hayakereba seki zo kanetsuru sode no shigarami
English Translation: The river of tears,
falling from its source above,
runs on so swiftly
that I cannot hold it back
with the weir that is my sleeve.
Meaning: So swiftly does the river of tears fall from its source that the weir of my sleeve cannot hold it back.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 876

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem says that because the river of tears falls so swiftly from its source, it cannot be dammed even with the sleeve as a weir. Taking tears as a river and the sleeve that wipes them as a weir of stakes, it sings of the tears of love that overflow beyond restraint.
The author, "Tsurayuki," is Ki no Tsurayuki, the central compiler of the Kokinshū, who wrote its Japanese preface and composed the Tosa Diary. He is one of the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.
Following the preceding poem, it is the second in the sequence on the "river of tears."

First line, "namidagawa," likens tears to a river, the same opening as the preceding poem, 875.
Second line, "otsuru minakami," means "the source from which it falls," treating the depths of the heart, the source of tears, as the source of a river.
Third line, "hayakereba," means "since it is swift," with "ba" a fixed condition. It pairs with "nodoka ni" of the preceding poem in the contrast between gentle and rushing flow.
Fourth line, "seki zo kanetsuru," means "I cannot dam it," concluding in "tsuru," the attributive of the perfective "tsu," in answer to the binding particle "zo." It uses the same turn, "zo kanetsuru," as the final line of 862 in this book, "negi zo kanetsuru."
Final line, "sode no shigarami," means "the weir of my sleeve," ending on a noun. The sleeve that wipes away tears is treated as a weir that holds back a river's flow.
Author: Ki no Tsurayuki
Source: Shui Wakashu
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