Au koto no kaku katakereba tsure mo naki hito no kokoro ya iwaki naruran - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

逢ふことのかく難ければつれもなき
人の心や岩木なるらん

Roma-ji: Au koto no kaku katakereba tsure mo naki hito no kokoro ya iwaki naruran
English Translation: Since a meeting is
so very hard to come by,
is it that her heart,
the heart of one so cold to me,
is made of rock and wood?
Meaning: Since meeting her is this hard, could the heart of one so cold be nothing but rock and wood?
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 758

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
Since meeting is so hard, he asks, is the cold one's heart made of rock and wood? He likens the heart that will not respond however much he loves to unfeeling rock and wood, resenting its coldness.
The author, "Kamo no Masahira," was a priest of the Kamo Shrine. Little is known of his career.

First line, "au koto no": "meeting her."
Second line, "kaku katakereba": "ba" after the perfective form gives a cause, "since it is so hard."
Third line, "tsure mo naki": "cold, unfeeling," modifying "hito" in the fourth line.
Fourth line, "hito no kokoro ya": "ya" is an interrogative particle binding with "ran" in the last line.
Fifth line, "iwaki naruran": "iwaki," rock and wood, figures what has no heart. "Ran" is the attributive of the conjectural "ramu," concluding the "ya" of the fourth line, "could it be rock and wood?"
Author: Kamo no Masahira
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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