Tanabata wa sora ni shiruran sasagani no ito kaku bakari matsuru kokoro o - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

七夕は空に知るらんささがにの
いとかくばかり祭る心を

Roma-ji: Tanabata wa sora ni shiruran sasagani no ito kaku bakari matsuru kokoro o
English Translation: The Weaver Star must know,
up there in the sky above,
like the spider's thread,
the threads I hang, and how deep
is the heart with which I worship.
Meaning: The Weaver Star in the sky above must surely know my heart, how, hanging my threads as the spider hangs its own, I worship her with such devotion.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Autumn Poems 1082

Headnote: "On a screen, the seventh day of the seventh month"
The poet says that the Tanabata star in the sky must know the heart with which he worships her so devotedly, hanging threads as a spider hangs its thread. The headnote shows it was written for a screen painting of the rites of the seventh day of the seventh month. Set against the custom of Kikkōten, in which threads and needles were offered on the night of Tanabata to pray for skill in the arts, it tells of the earnest feeling of one who keeps the festival.
This book gathers autumn poems of the miscellaneous section that do not belong to the seasonal books, and in its latter half it reaches into winter and the year's end. From this opening poem a series of Tanabata poems follows, and the closing poem, 1158, laments white hair at the end of the year, so the book begins with the once-a-year Tanabata festival and closes with the end of the year.
The author, written as "Minamoto no Shitagō," is Minamoto no Shitagau. Of the Saga Genji line, he took part, as one of the Five Men of the Pear Chamber, in compiling the Gosenshū and reading the Man'yōshū, and he compiled the dictionary Wamyō Ruijushō. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "tanabata wa," means "the Tanabata star," referring to the two stars of the Herdsman and the Weaver, above all the Weaver. The next poem, 1083, and 1086 in this book also begin with the Tanabata star, so the Tanabata poems stand side by side.
Second line, "sora ni shiruran," means "must know, up in the sky," with "ran" an auxiliary of present conjecture. The poem breaks after this second line, and what the star knows is given in the lower verse by inversion.
Third line, "sasagani no," is a word for the spider, also used as a pillow word leading to "ito," thread. It was believed that if a spider spun its thread over the Tanabata offerings, one's wish would be granted.
Fourth line, "ito kaku bakari," is built on pivot words: "ito" joins the spider's "thread" and "ito," very much, and "kaku" joins "kaku," to hang a thread, and "kaku," thus. "Sasagani," "thread," and "hang" form associated words. It shares with the second line of 1087 in this book, "waga kasu ito wa," the theme of threads offered at Tanabata.
Final line, "matsuru kokoro o," means "the heart with which I worship," closing with the object of "shiruran" in the second line placed in inversion.
Author: Minamoto no Shitagō
Source: Shui Wakashu
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