Ikaruga ya Tomi no Ogawa no taeba koso waga ōkimi no mina o wasureme - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

斑鳩や富の小川の絶えばこそ
我が大君の御名を忘れめ

Roma-ji: Ikaruga ya Tomi no Ogawa no taeba koso waga ōkimi no mina o wasureme
English Translation: Should Ikaruga's
little river, the Tomi,
ever cease to flow,
then and only then would I
forget my great lord's name.
Meaning: Only if the little Tomi River of Ikaruga should ever cease to flow would I forget the name of my great lord.
Commentary: Book Twenty Lament Poems 1351

Headnote: "The starving man raised his head and offered his reply"
The poet says that only if the Tomi River of Ikaruga should cease to flow would he forget his great lord's name. The headnote shows that the starving man raised his head and offered this reply to Prince Shōtoku's preceding poem, 1350. Naming the never-failing flow of the Tomi River through Ikaruga, where the prince lived, he vows never, so long as it flows, to forget the name of the prince who showed him mercy. In later ages this starving man was said to have been an incarnation of Bodhidharma.
This is the closing poem of the book and of the whole Shūishū. Where the opening poem, 1274, sang of tears of longing for the dead, this closing poem is a vow never to forget the name of the one who showed kindness, so the book of laments, devoted to remembering the dead, closes with a vow to hold a person in the heart forever.
The attribution, "the starving man," refers to the man of the headnote, whose name is not handed down.

First line, "Ikaruga ya," means "O Ikaruga" in Yamato, the land of the Ikaruga Palace where Prince Shōtoku lived. Like the first line of the preceding poem, 1350, "shinateru ya," it opens with "ya."
Second line, "Tomi no Ogawa no," means "of the little Tomi River" that flows through Ikaruga.
Third line, "taeba koso," means "only if it should cease," with the binding particle "koso" resolved by the perfective "me" in the final line.
Fourth line, "waga ōkimi no," means "of my great lord," Prince Shōtoku.
Final line, "mina o wasureme," means "would I forget the name," with "me" the perfective form of the conjectural "mu." Since the river will never cease, it is a vow never to forget. It answers the third and fourth lines of the opening poem, 1274, "naki hito o kouru," in a heart that goes on holding a person in mind.
Source: Shui Wakashu
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