Yukikaeru kokoro ni hito no narureba ya aiminu saki ni koishikaruran - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

行き返る心に人の馴るればや
逢ひ見ぬ先に恋しかるらん

Roma-ji: Yukikaeru kokoro ni hito no narureba ya aiminu saki ni koishikaruran
English Translation: Is it that my heart,
going to her and coming back,
has made her familiar,
that before we ever meet
I should long for her like this?
Meaning: Is it because my heart, going to her and back again and again, has grown so used to her, that I long for her like this before we have even met?
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 742

Headnote: "Composed as a love poem at a poetry contest held at his house when he was Minister of the Right"
Composed as a love poem at a poetry contest held at his house when he was Minister of the Right. Is it because she has grown familiar to my heart that goes and returns, he asks, that I long for her before we have met? Though he cannot go to her in body, his heart has visited her many times, so that even before they meet she feels as dear as one long known, expressing a wonder of love.
The author, "the Regent, former Minister of the Right," is Fujiwara no Kanezane. The son of Regent Fujiwara no Tadamichi, he served as Minister of the Right, then became Regent and later Chancellor. He founded the Kujō house and left the diary Gyokuyō.
Where 725 and 728 reflect on the pain that follows after growing close through meeting, this poem says that the heart has grown close to her before any meeting, so that around the word "naru," "to grow familiar," the time before and after a meeting are set in contrast.

First line, "yukikaeru": "going and returning," the heart traveling to the beloved.
Second line, "kokoro ni hito no": "she, to my heart."
Third line, "narureba ya": "naru" is to grow familiar, "ba" gives a cause, and "ya" is an interrogative particle binding with "ran" in the last line, "is it because she has grown familiar?" The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "aiminu saki ni": "before we have met."
Fifth line, "koishikaruran": "ran" is the attributive of the auxiliary of conjecture on causes, concluding the "ya" of the third line, "why should I long for her?"
Author: Fujiwara no Kanezane
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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