Hito wa isa akanu yodoko ni todometsuru waga kokoro koso ware o matsurame - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

人はいさ飽かぬ夜床にとどめつる
我が心こそ我を待つらめ

Roma-ji: Hito wa isa akanu yodoko ni todometsuru waga kokoro koso ware o matsurame
English Translation: As for her, who knows?
On the bed I could not leave
I left it behind:
it is my heart, surely,
that waits there for me
Meaning: As for her, who can say? But my own heart, which I left behind on that bed I could not bear to leave, surely waits there for me.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 805

Headnote: "Composed on the heart of love the morning after"
Composed on the topic "love the morning after," the parting after a night together. As for her, who knows, he says; but my heart that I left behind on the bed I could not bear to leave, that surely waits for me. Borrowing the first line of the Kokinshū poem by Ki no Tsurayuki, "As for people, who knows their hearts; but in my old home the blossoms are fragrant as of old," he says with wit that though he cannot know her heart, his own heart, left behind on the bed he could not bear to leave, surely waits for his return, conveying the lingering regret of the morning after.
The author, "Former Provisional Master of the Western Capital Office Yorimasa," is Minamoto no Yorimasa. The son of Minamoto no Nakamasa, Head of the Arsenal, he was a warrior and poet who served as Provisional Master of the Western Capital Office. He later raised troops under Prince Mochihito to overthrow the Taira and died in defeat at Uji.

First line, "hito wa isa": "isa" means "who knows," showing that her heart cannot be known. It is the same as the first line of Tsurayuki's poem.
Second line, "akanu yodoko ni": "akanu" means unsatisfied, never weary of, and "yodoko" is the bed.
Third line, "todometsuru": "tsuru" is the attributive of the perfective "tsu," "that I left behind."
Fourth line, "waga kokoro koso": "koso" is an emphatic particle that binds with "rame" in the last line, set against "hito" in the first.
Fifth line, "ware o matsurame": "rame" is the realized form of the present conjectural "ramu," concluding "koso," "surely waits for me." Where a woman would usually wait for a man, here his own heart waits for him.
Author: Minamoto no Yorimasa
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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