Sekikanuru namida no kawa no hayaki se wa au yori hoka no shigarami zo naki - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

せきかぬる涙の川の早き瀬は
逢ふよりほかのしがらみぞなき

Roma-ji: Sekikanuru namida no kawa no hayaki se wa au yori hoka no shigarami zo naki
English Translation: The swift-running rapids
of this river of my tears
that will not be dammed:
nothing but our meeting
can be weir enough to hold them
Meaning: For the swift rapids of this river of tears that I cannot hold back, there is no weir that could stop them but meeting her.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 723

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
For the swift rapids of the river of tears that cannot be dammed, he says, there is no weir but meeting her. Likening his overflowing tears to a rushing current, he says that only meeting his beloved could stop it, expressing an urgent longing for a meeting.
The author, "Former Provisional Master of the Right Capital Office Yorimasa," is Minamoto no Yorimasa. The son of Minamoto no Nakamasa, Head of the Hyōgo Office, he was a warrior and poet who served as Provisional Master of the Right Capital Office. He later raised troops against the Taira in support of Prince Mochihito and died in defeat at Uji.
The "river of tears" is also sung of in 715 of this book, and 769 sings of both "shigarami" and "namidagawa," using the same image as this poem.

First line, "sekikanuru": "that cannot be dammed," modifying "namida no kawa" in the second line.
Second line, "namida no kawa no": an image likening the flood of tears to a river. It is the same image as "namida no kawa ni" in the second line of 715 of this book.
Third line, "hayaki se wa": "the swift shallows," the ceaseless flow of tears.
Fourth line, "au yori hoka no": "other than meeting her."
Fifth line, "shigarami zo naki": "shigarami" is a weir of stakes woven with brushwood or bamboo to hold back a river's flow. "Zo" is an emphatic particle binding with the attributive "naki." It shares the word with "shigarami mo" in the third line of 769.
Author: Minamoto no Yorimasa
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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