Aki mo mada tōku mo aranu ni ikade nao tachikaere to mo tsuge ni yaramashi - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

秋もまだ遠くもあらぬにいかで猶
立ち帰れとも告げにやらまし

Roma-ji: Aki mo mada tōku mo aranu ni ikade nao tachikaere to mo tsuge ni yaramashi
English Translation: Autumn has not yet
gone so very far away,
somehow, all the same,
"Turn around and come back home,"
shall I send someone to say?
Meaning: Autumn has not yet gone very far; shall I somehow, all the same, send a messenger after it to tell it to turn back?
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Autumn Poems 1137

Headnote: "On the first day of the tenth month, when the courtiers went out to Sagano and he was summoned to attend them"
The poet says that since autumn, just departed, has not yet gone far, he would somehow send a messenger after it to tell it to turn back. The headnote shows it was composed on the first day of the tenth month, when the courtiers went out to Sagano and he was summoned to attend them. On the first day of winter, he tries to call back the autumn that has just gone, as if it were a person, expressing his regret at its passing.
The preceding poem, 1136, is a poem of the last day of the ninth month, so poems of autumn's last day and winter's first day stand side by side.
The author is Kiyohara no Motosuke, grandson of Kiyohara no Fukayabu and father of Sei Shōnagon. As one of the Five Men of the Pear Chamber, he took part in compiling the Gosenshū. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "aki mo mada," means "autumn, which has gone, not yet."
Second line, "tōku mo aranu ni," means "has not gone far, and yet," a hypermetric line of eight syllables.
Third line, "ikade nao," means "somehow, all the same," sharing the same line with the first line of 1134 in this book, "ikade nao."
Fourth line, "tachikaere to mo," means "telling it to turn back," with "tachikaere" in the imperative. It uses the same word as the final line of 1130 in this book, "tachikaeruran."
Final line, "tsuge ni yaramashi," means "shall I send someone to tell it," with "mashi" an auxiliary of intention tinged with hesitation.
Author: Kiyohara no Motosuke
Source: Shui Wakashu
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