Koi o nomi Shikama no ichi ni tatsu tami no taenu omoi ni mi o ya kaetemu - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

恋をのみしかまの市に立つ民の
絶えぬ思ひに身をや替へてん

Roma-ji: Koi o nomi Shikama no ichi ni tatsu tami no taenu omoi ni mi o ya kaetemu
English Translation: Doing naught but love,
like the folk who stand trading
at Shikama's mart,
for a love that never ends,
shall I give my self in exchange
Meaning: Doing nothing but love, like the folk who stand at the market of Shikama trading their wares, shall I exchange my very self for this love that never ends?
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 857

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed as a love poem when presenting hundred-poem sequences to Retired Emperor Sutoku"
Like the preceding poem, it is a love poem from the Kyūan Hyakushu. Doing nothing but love, he says, like the folk who stand at the market of Shikama, shall I exchange myself for a love that never ends? In the figure of people trading goods at the market of Shikama in Harima, he sees himself on the verge of ruining himself in exchange for love. Making use of "kau," "to exchange," the word for trading at a market, he expresses a heart that is half resolve to give himself up to love and half lament.
The author, "Shunzei, Master of the Empress Dowager's Household," was the son of Provisional Middle Counselor Fujiwara no Toshitada. He served as Master of the Empress Dowager's Household, later took the tonsure under the name Shakua, and compiled this anthology at the command of Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa.
The love poems from the Kyūan Hyakushu presented to Retired Emperor Sutoku continue from this poem through 860 and form a sequence. The next poem, 858, also begins "koi o nomi" and continues in the same form, pivoting a place name on the sounds "shi" and "su," so that the two poems form a pair.

First line, "koi o nomi": "nomi" is restrictive, "nothing but love." It is the same first line as the next poem, 858.
Second line, "Shikama no ichi ni": "Shikama" is the place name in Harima, and its "shi" pivots with "koi o nomi shi," "doing nothing but love." The market of Shikama was a place where markets had been held since early times.
Third line, "tatsu tami no": "of the folk who stand at the market and trade." "No" marks a simile, "like those folk."
Fourth line, "taenu omoi ni": "for a love that never ends."
Fifth line, "mi o ya kaetemu": "kau," "to exchange," is an associated word for the trading of the market. "Ya" is an interrogative particle that binds with the attributive "temu." "Te" is the irrealis of the completive "tsu" and "mu" an auxiliary of conjecture, "shall I end by exchanging myself."
Author: Fujiwara no Shunzei
Source: Senzai Wakashu
Prev Poem: Azumaya no okaya no noki no shinobugusa shinobi mo aezu shigeru omoi ni
Next Poem: Koi o nomi Sugata no ike ni mikusa ite sumade yaminan na koso oshikere