Chigirishi mo morotomo ni koso chigirishika wasureba ware mo wasuremashikaba - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

契りしももろともにこそ契りしか
忘れば我も忘れましかば

Roma-ji: Chigirishi mo morotomo ni koso chigirishika wasureba ware mo wasuremashikaba
English Translation: When we made our vows,
it was together, both of us,
that we made those vows;
if you forget, would that I
could forget as you have done
Meaning: When we made our vows, it was together that we made them; if you forget, would that I too could forget as easily.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 864

Headnote: "Sent to a woman who had broken the promise we made"
This poem was sent to a woman who had broken a promise. When we vowed, he says, it was together that we vowed; if you forget, would that I too could forget. Though the vow was exchanged by both, only she has forgotten while he alone cannot, and he laments the unfairness. Repeating both "chigiru," "to vow," and "wasuru," "to forget," he throws into relief the feeling that a promise meant to belong to both has been left to one alone.
The author, "Consultant Tamemichi," was Fujiwara no Tamemichi. The son of Chancellor Fujiwara no Koremichi, he rose to Consultant.
Poem 845 in this book says "chigirishi koto o nao tanomu kana," singing of a heart that still trusts the vow though the beloved has forgotten, while this poem wishes to forget since the beloved has forgotten. Around the same "vow we made," a clinging heart and a heart that would forget stand in contrast.

First line, "chigirishi mo": "shi" is the attributive of the past "ki," "the vowing, too." It uses the same "chigirishi" as "chigirishi koto o" in the fourth line of 845 in this book.
Second line, "morotomo ni koso": "morotomo ni" means "together," and "koso" is an emphatic particle that binds with the perfective "chigirishika" in the third line.
Third line, "chigirishika": the perfective of the past "ki," concluding "koso." Repeating "chigirishi" from the first line, it stresses that the vow was exchanged by both. The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "wasureba ware mo": "ba" after the irrealis gives a hypothetical condition, "if you forget." "Ware mo" adds "I too, like you."
Fifth line, "wasuremashikaba": "mashikaba" is a counterfactual condition, "if only I could forget." Breaking off before the unspoken "how good it would be," it leaves an afterglow of grief at being unable to forget.
Author: Fujiwara no Tamemichi
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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