Mizutori no tamamo no toko no ukimakura fukaki omoi wa tare ka masareru - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

水鳥の玉藻の床のうき枕
深き思ひは誰かまされる

Roma-ji: Mizutori no tamamo no toko no ukimakura fukaki omoi wa tare ka masareru
English Translation: The waterfowl's pillow,
afloat on a bed of jewel weed,
sorrowful and adrift:
of the two of us, which one's longing
runs deeper than the other's?
Meaning: The waterfowl sleeps adrift with jeweled seaweed for a bed and a floating, sorrowful pillow. In depth of longing, which of us surpasses the other?
Commentary: Book Six Winter Poems 431

Headnote: "Composed when a hundred-poem sequence was presented in the reign of Emperor Horikawa"
Composed for a hundred-poem sequence presented in the reign of Emperor Horikawa, a poem on waterfowl from the Horikawa Hyakushu. The waterfowl sleeps adrift with seaweed for its bed, the poet says, so in depth of longing, which of them surpasses the other? Comparing the waterfowl sleeping afloat over deep water with himself unable to sleep for deep longing, he sets them as if to vie in the depth of their sorrow.
The author, "Saki no Chūnagon Masafusa," was the son of Ōe no Narihira. Renowned as a scholar, he served as Provisional Middle Counselor and Acting Governor-General of Dazaifu. A poem of his is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
The nine poems from 429 to 437 are poems on waterfowl. Mandarin ducks, wild ducks and other waterfowl were counted among the sights of the winter waterside. In the Horikawa Hyakushu, poets such as Minamoto no Toshiyori and Fujiwara no Kinzane each composed a hundred poems on shared topics in Horikawa's reign, and it became the model for later hundred-poem sequences.

First line, "mizutori no": taking up "mizutori o," the first line of the preceding poem, 430.
Second line, "tamamo no toko no": "tamamo" is an elegant word for seaweed, the waterfowl sleeping on a bed of weed. 433 of this book also sings of "tamamo no fune."
Third line, "ukimakura": "uki" is a pivot word joining "uki," floating, and "uki," sorrowful, taking up the same pivot in "ukitaru" in the preceding poem, 430. The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "fukaki omoi wa": "fukaki," "deep," calls to mind the depth of the water while speaking of the depth of longing.
Fifth line, "tare ka masareru": the interrogative "ka" closes with the attributive "ru," asking whose longing is greater, the bird's or his own.
Author: Oe no Masafusa
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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