Nageki amari shirasesometsuru kotonoha mo omou bakari wa iwarezarikeri - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

嘆きあまり知らせそめつる言の葉も
思ふばかりは言はれざりけり

Roma-ji: Nageki amari shirasesometsuru kotonoha mo omou bakari wa iwarezarikeri
English Translation: Even the words that
in my grief I sent at last
to let my love be known
could not, I found, begin to say
how much I truly feel
Meaning: Even the words I finally sent, overwhelmed by grief, to let her know of my love could not express how much I really feel.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 660

Headnote: "Composed as a love poem"
Composed as a love poem. Even the words with which I first let my love be known, overcome by grief, he says, could not say as much as I feel. Having at last confessed, unable to endure in silence, he finds that the words fall far short of the depth of his heart.
The author, "Minamoto no Akikata Ason," was an official and poet of the late Heian period. Little is known of his career.
Where 649 of this book voiced a heart longing to confess unasked, this poem sings of a heart that cannot say all even after confessing. Poems 657 and 685 also speak of "kotonoha," "words."

First line, "nageki amari": a line with an extra syllable, "out of the excess of grief."
Second line, "shirasesometsuru": "some" is the continuative of "somu," "to begin," and "tsuru" the attributive of the perfective "tsu," "which I first sent to let her know."
Third line, "kotonoha mo": "even those words." It is the same word as "waga kotonoha o" in the fourth line of 657.
Fourth line, "omou bakari wa": "bakari" expresses degree, "as much as I feel."
Fifth line, "iwarezarikeri": "re" is the irrealis of the potential "ru," "zari" negative, and "keri" expresses realization, "I could not say it."
Author: Minamoto no Akikata
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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