Haru kureba taki no shiraito ika nare ya musubedomo nao awa ni miyuran - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

春来れば滝の白糸いかなれや
むすべども猶あわに見ゆらん

Roma-ji: Haru kureba taki no shiraito ika nare ya musubedomo nao awa ni miyuran
English Translation: When the spring has come,
the white threads of the waterfall,
how can it be so?
though I tie and scoop them up,
still they seem but fleeting foam.
Meaning: When spring comes, how is it that the white threads of the waterfall, whether one tries to tie them or scoop them up in the hand, still look as faint as foam?
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Spring Poems 1004

Headnote: "A screen poem for the High Priestess of Kamo in the fifteenth year of Engi"
The poet asks why, when spring comes, the white threads of the waterfall still look as frail as foam, whether one tries to tie them or to scoop them up. The headnote shows it was written for a screen made in the fifteenth year of Engi for the High Priestess of Kamo. Likening the falling water to white thread and pivoting on "musubu," to "tie" thread and to "scoop" water, and on "awa," water's "foam" and thread's "pale" frailty, it depicts a spring waterfall swollen with melting snow. Following the preceding poem, 1003, it sings of a waterfall in spring.
The author, Ki no Tsurayuki, was the leading compiler of the Kokinshū, wrote its kana preface and the Tosa Diary. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "haru kureba," means "when spring comes," with "ba" after the perfective form expressing what always happens.
Second line, "taki no shiraito," likens the waterfall's flow to white thread. It stands beside the fourth line of the preceding poem, 1003, "taki no oto ni ya," as a poem of a waterfall.
Third line, "ika nare ya," means "how is it," with "ya" expressing a question that answers "ran" in the final line.
Fourth line, "musubedomo nao," means "though one ties or scoops it, still," with "musubu" a pivot word on "tying" thread and "scooping" water, and "domo" a concessive particle.
Final line, "awa ni miyuran," means "does it look as frail as foam," with "awa" a pivot word on water's "foam" and thread's "pale" frailty, and "ran" an auxiliary conjecturing the cause. "Shiraito" in the second line and "musubu" in the fourth form associated words.
Author: Ki no Tsurayuki
Source: Shui Wakashu
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