Hitokata ni nabiku moshio no keburi kana tsurenaki hito no kakaramashikaba - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

一方になびく藻塩の煙かな
つれなき人のかからましかば

Roma-ji: Hitokata ni nabiku moshio no keburi kana tsurenaki hito no kakaramashikaba
English Translation: All to one side,
how the smoke of burning brine
drifts across the shore!
If only the cruel one
would lean toward me like that
Meaning: See how the smoke of the salt fires drifts all to one side! If only the one so cold to me would bend my way like that.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 732

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
How the smoke of burning seaweed drifts to one side, he says; if only the cruel one were like that. Watching the smoke of the salt fires bending one way in the wind, he wishes the cold one would yield to him in the same way.
The author, "Taira no Tadamori Ason," was the son of Taira no Masamori. Serving Retired Emperors Shirakawa and Toba, he was the first warrior permitted to enter the palace hall and rose to Minister of Justice. The father of Taira no Kiyomori, he was also known as a poet.

First line, "hitokata ni": "all to one side."
Second line, "nabiku moshio no": "nabiku" is to stream along with the wind, carrying the sense of yielding one's heart. "Moshio" is the making of salt by pouring seawater over seaweed and burning it.
Third line, "keburi kana": "kana" is exclamatory, "how the smoke drifts!" The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "tsurenaki hito no": "the cold one who does not answer my love."
Fifth line, "kakaramashikaba": "mashikaba" is a counterfactual condition, "if only she were like this," with "how glad I would be" left unsaid.
Author: Taira no Tadamori
Source: Senzai Wakashu
Prev Poem: Ima wa sa wa aimimu made wa katakutomo inochi to naramu koto no ha mogana
Next Poem: Koiwabinu Chinu no masurao naranaku ni Ikuta no kawa ni mi o ya nagemashi