Au koto no katakai shitaru Michinoku no komahoshiku nomi omōyuru kana - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

逢ふことのかたかひしたる陸奥の
こまほしくのみおもほゆるかな

Roma-ji: Au koto no katakai shitaru Michinoku no komahoshiku nomi omōyuru kana
English Translation: Since meeting is so hard,
like a colt of Michinoku
kept but half-tended,
I can only wish you'd come,
that is all my heart can think.
Meaning: Meeting is so hard that, like a colt of Mutsu kept only half-tamed, all I can think is how I wish you would come.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 904

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem says that because meeting is so hard, as if keeping a colt of Mutsu only half-tended, I can think of nothing but wishing you would come. Setting "komahoshi," wish you would come, on the colts of Mutsu, famed for their horses, it gathers the frustration of a love with few meetings in words of horse-keeping.

First line, "au koto no," means "meeting."
Second line, "katakai shitaru," means "kept only half-tended," with "katakai" a pivot word joining "kata," hard, as meeting is, and "katakai," keeping a horse not fully tamed.
Third line, "Michinoku no," means "of Mutsu Province," a land famous for fine horses, leading to "koma," colt. The first line of the next poem, 905, is also "Michinoku no," two poems on Mutsu standing side by side.
Fourth line, "komahoshiku nomi," means "only wishing you would come," with "koma" a pivot word joining "koma," the colt of Mutsu, and "koma" of "komahoshi," wishing one would come. It takes up "koma" of the preceding poem, 903.
Final line, "omōyuru kana," means "so I cannot help but feel," with "kana" expressing exclamation.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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