Sashinagara hito no kokoro o Mikumano no ura no hamayū ikue naruran - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

さしながら人の心をみくまのの
浦の浜木綿いくへなるらん

Roma-ji: Sashinagara hito no kokoro o Mikumano no ura no hamayū ikue naruran
English Translation: If I could see it
as it is, another's heart,
at Mikumano,
like the bay's crinum lilies,
how many layers deep?
Meaning: If I could see another's heart just as it is, how many layers would it hold, like the crinum lilies of Mikumano Bay?
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 890

Headnote: "On a screen painting depicting Mikumano"
Looking at the crinum lilies of the bay of Mikumano painted on a screen, the poem asks: if I could see another's heart just as it is, how many layers deep would it lie, like the leaves of the crinum? It likens a heart not easily seen through to the crinum, whose leaves overlap layer upon layer.
According to the headnote, it is a screen poem added to a screen painting of the scenery of Mikumano. It turns the painted crinum scene toward the heart in love.
The author, "Kanemori," is Taira no Kanemori, son of Prince Atsuyuki of the line of Emperor Kōkō, who left the imperial family to become a Taira. He is one of the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets and is known for the Hyakunin Isshu poem "shinoburedo," which competed against Mibu no Tadami at the Tentoku Palace Poetry Contest.
It draws on Kakinomoto no Hitomaro's poem in Book Four of the Man'yōshū: "Though my heart longs for you, layered like the hundredfold crinum of Mikumano Bay, I cannot meet you face to face."

First line, "sashinagara," means "just as it is."
Second line, "hito no kokoro o," means "another's heart."
Third line, "Mikumano no," is a pivot word joining "mi," to see, and the place-name Mikumano, laying "seeing another's heart" over "of Kumano in Kii Province."
Fourth line, "ura no hamayū," means "the crinum lilies of the bay" at Kumano. Since the crinum's leaves overlap many times, it served as an image of many barriers or of deep feeling.
Final line, "ikue naruran," means "how many layers might it be," with "ran" an auxiliary of present conjecture. It lays the depth of the barriers in another's heart over the layered leaves of the crinum.
Author: Taira no Kanemori
Source: Shui Wakashu
Prev Poem: Yaoka yuku hama no masago to waga koi to izure masareri okitsu shimamori
Next Poem: Yo no hito no oyobanu mono wa Fuji no ne no kumoi ni takaki omoi narikeri