Wakarete wa katami narikeru tamazusa o nagusamu bakari kaki mo okase de - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

別れては形見なりける玉章を
慰むばかり書きもおかせで

Roma-ji: Wakarete wa katami narikeru tamazusa o nagusamu bakari kaki mo okase de
English Translation: After we parted,
keepsakes, I see, they become,
letters such as these;
yet enough to comfort me
you did not leave them written
Meaning: After parting, letters, I see, become keepsakes; yet you did not leave me enough of them written to bring me any comfort.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 854

Headnote: "Composed on the topic 'keepsakes after it has ended'"
This poem was composed on the topic "keepsakes after it has ended," the mementos that remain once a love has broken off. The letters that become keepsakes after parting, he says, you did not leave written enough to comfort me. He realizes that once love is over, only the letters left behind remain as a means to remember the beloved, and laments with resentment that not enough of them were left to console his heart.
The author, "Koga Palace Minister," was Minamoto no Masamichi. Of the Murakami Genji, he rose to Palace Minister and was called the Koga Palace Minister.
Poem 884 in this book also takes keepsakes as its subject, singing of the morning and evening sky as a keepsake for the time when the lovers cannot meet.

First line, "wakarete wa": "te wa" means "after we parted."
Second line, "katami narikeru": "katami" is something that serves to recall the one who is gone. "Keru" is the attributive of the past "keri," expressing the exclamation of realization, showing the feeling of learning only now that letters become keepsakes.
Third line, "tamazusa o": "tamazusa" means a letter.
Fourth line, "nagusamu bakari": "bakari" marks degree, "enough to comfort my heart."
Fifth line, "kaki mo okase de": "se" is the continuative of the honorific auxiliary "su" and "de" a negative conjunctive particle, "without your leaving them written." The poem closes in a broken-off form, leaving an afterglow of resentment.
Author: Minamoto no Masamichi
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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