Koma no ato wa katsu furu yuki ni uzumorete okururu hito ya michi madou ran - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

駒の跡はかつ降る雪に埋もれて
遅るる人や道惑ふらん

Roma-ji: Koma no ato wa katsu furu yuki ni uzumorete okururu hito ya michi madou ran
English Translation: The hoofprints I leave
are buried by the snow
that falls on and on:
will those who come behind me
lose their way upon the road?
Meaning: The hoofprints of my horse are buried by the snow that keeps on falling; will those who follow behind lose their way?
Commentary: Book Six Winter Poems 463

Headnote: "Composed on the topic 'Snow on the Road'"
Composed on the topic of snow on the road. The hoofprints of his horse going ahead, the poet says, are buried by the snow that keeps on falling, so will those who follow behind lose their way? Watching his own tracks vanish under the snow, he feels for the trouble of those who will come after.
The author, "Saijū Hōshi," was known in lay life as Minamoto no Suemasa. He took the tonsure under the name Saijū and was a close companion of Saigyō.
Poems on snow continue from 445 to 467. 451 of this book sang, "The deep mountain road is buried by the snow that keeps on falling; how can I follow the hoofprints of the horse?" voicing the forlornness of being unable to follow the tracks of one ahead. Using almost the same words, this poem thinks of those behind from the side of the one going ahead and leaving tracks, so the two sing of the same scene from opposite sides.

First line, "koma no ato wa": "koma" is a horse, the hoofprints of the poet's own horse. The line has six syllables, one extra. It is the same word as "koma no ato" in 451 of this book.
Second line, "katsu furu yuki ni": "katsu" means "one after another," the same second line as 451 of this book.
Third line, "uzumorete": "buried in the snow," the same third line as 451 of this book.
Fourth line, "okururu hito ya": "okuru" is to fall behind, to come after. The interrogative "ya" closes with the attributive "ran" in the last line.
Fifth line, "michi madou ran": "madou" is to lose one's way, and "ran" is the present conjecture. It also answers "madoinuru kana" in 458 of this book.
Author: Saijū
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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