classic waka stream

七夕のあかぬ別れもゆゆしきを
今日しもなどか君が来ませる
Roma-ji

Tanabata no akanu wakare mo yuyushiki o kyō shimo nado ka kimi ga kimaseru

English Translation
The Tanabata stars,
even their parting, still unfulfilled,
is so ill-omened,
and yet today of all days,
why is it that you have come?
Meaning
Even the parting of the Tanabata stars, who never have their fill of each other, seems ill-omened; why then, on this very day of all days, have you come to me?
Commentary
Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Autumn Poems 1083

Headnote: "For a screen of Retired Emperor En'yū, at a place where the Tanabata festival is held, a man stands by the brushwood fence"
The poet asks why the man has come on Tanabata of all days, when even the lingering parting of the two stars seems ill-omened. The headnote shows it was written for a screen painting from the reign of Emperor En'yū, depicting a man standing by the brushwood fence of a house where the Tanabata festival is being kept. In the voice of the woman within, who reproaches the man for visiting on the day when a meeting means the sorrow of parting, it portrays the mood of love.
The author is Taira no Kanemori, a descendant of Emperor Kōkō who left the imperial family to receive the surname Taira and served as governor of Suruga, among other posts. He is known for his contest with Mibu no Tadami at the Tentoku Palace Poetry Contest and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "tanabata no," means "of the Tanabata stars." Together with the preceding poem, 1082, and 1086 in this book, it is one of a row of poems that place the Tanabata stars in the first line.
Second line, "akanu wakare mo," means "even the parting, still unfulfilled," with "akanu" meaning unsatisfied, with longing left behind. It shares the same words with the fourth line of the next poem, 1084, "akanu wakare no," and the fourth line of 1090 in this book, "akanu wakare o."
Third line, "yuyushiki o," means "is ill-omened, and yet," with "o" a concessive particle.
Fourth line, "kyō shimo nado ka," means "today of all days, why," with "shimo" an emphatic particle and "ka" a questioning binding particle.
Final line, "kimi ga kimaseru," means "have you come," with "kimasu" an honorific for "to come" and "ru" the attributive form of the perfective "ri," resolving the "ka" of the fourth line.
Author
Taira no Kanemori
Source
Shui Wakashu
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