classic waka stream

世を厭ふはしと思ひし通ひ路に
あやなく人を恋ひわたるかな
Roma-ji

Yo o itou hashi to omoishi kayoiji ni ayanaku hito o koiwataru kana

English Translation
On the very path
I thought would be the bridge to leave
the world behind me,
how senselessly I find myself
crossing ever on in love
Meaning
On the very road I took thinking it would be my bridge out of this world, I find myself, for no good reason, going on and on in love.
Commentary
Book Eleven Love Poems I 672

Headnote: "Composed and sent when he was living in seclusion at a mountain temple at the foot of Yokawa, because there was a very handsome boy there"
Composed and sent when he was living in seclusion at a mountain temple at the foot of Yokawa on Mount Hiei, because there was a very handsome boy there. On the path I thought would be the bridge to leaving the world, he says, I go on loving senselessly. Through the related words "hashi," "bridge," and "wataru," "to cross," he expresses the irony that the road to a mountain temple, meant to help him leave the world and devote himself to the Buddha's way, has become instead a road of love.
The author, "the monk Nisshō," was a monk of the late Heian period. Little is known of his life.
Together with "kayoisomenuru kokoro" in 676 and "yume no kayoiji" in 677 of this book, it begins a run of poems turning on "kayou," "to go back and forth."

First line, "yo o itou": "to turn from the world," to take the tonsure and withdraw.
Second line, "hashi to omoishi": "hashi" combines "hashi," an occasion or means, and "hashi," a bridge on the path. "Shi" is the attributive of the past "ki."
Third line, "kayoiji ni": "on the path" to the mountain temple. It is the same word as "yume no kayoiji" in the last line of 677.
Fourth line, "ayanaku hito o": "ayanaku" means "for no reason, senselessly."
Fifth line, "koiwataru kana": "wataru" means to go on doing, and it is a related word to "hashi," "bridge," in the second line. "Kana" is an exclamatory final particle.
Author
Nisshō
Source
Senzai Wakashu
Prev Poem
Waga koi wa obana fukikosu akikaze no oto ni wa tateji mi ni wa shimu tomo
Next Poem
Tayori araba ama no tsuribune kototsutemu hito o mirume ni motomewabinuru