Wasuru na yo kaeru yamaji ni ato taete hikazu wa yuki no furitsumoru tomo - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

忘るなよかへる山路に跡絶えて
日数は雪のふり積もるとも

Roma-ji: Wasuru na yo kaeru yamaji ni ato taete hikazu wa yuki no furitsumoru tomo
English Translation: Do not forget me,
though on the road of Mount Kaeru
all tracks disappear,
and the days, like falling snow,
may pile up deep between us
Meaning: Do not forget me, even if on the road over Mount Kaeru all tracks vanish, and the days apart pile up like the falling snow.
Commentary: Book Seven Parting Poems 481

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed on the theme of parting when a hundred-poem sequence was presented in the reign of Emperor Horikawa"
A parting poem from the Horikawa Hyakushu. Even if on the mountain road of Kaeru in the northern provinces all traffic ceases, and the days since our parting pile up like falling snow, do not forget me, the poet says. Into the name Kaeru, "return," which evokes a journey to the north, he puts his wish for the traveler's return, and through the piling snow he conveys a long separation in which even letters are cut off.
The author, "Minamoto no Toshiyori Ason," was the son of Major Counselor Minamoto no Tsunenobu. A central poet of Emperor Horikawa's poetic circle, he compiled the Kin'yō Wakashū by order of Retired Emperor Shirakawa and wrote the poetic treatise Toshiyori Zuinō. He has a poem in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
It closes the three parting poems from the Horikawa Hyakushu beginning with 479.

First line, "wasuru na yo": "na" is the prohibitive particle and "yo" an appeal, and the poem pauses here. Poem 496 of this book also opens with "wasuru na yo"; where this poem speaks of snow and days, 496 speaks of the moon.
Second line, "kaeru yamaji ni": "Kaeru-yama" is a poetic place in Echizen, and "kaeru" also means "return," sounding the wish for the traveler to come back. Poem 493 of this book also sings of "kaeru yamaji"; against the wish of the one seeing off here, it voices the lament of one waiting for a return.
Third line, "ato taete": "all tracks cut off," meaning the road is closed by snow and even letters cease.
Fourth line, "hikazu wa yuki no": likening the days of separation to snow.
Fifth line, "furitsumoru tomo": "furi" means both that snow falls and that days pass. "Tomo" is a concessive condition, "even if they pile up." By inversion it returns to "wasuru na yo" in the first line.
Author: Minamoto no Toshiyori
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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