Mizukuki wa kore o kagiri to kakitsumete sekiaenu mono wa namida narikeri - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

水茎はこれを限りと書きつめて
せきあへぬものは涙なりけり

Roma-ji: Mizukuki wa kore o kagiri to kakitsumete sekiaenu mono wa namida narikeri
English Translation: With my brush I wrote,
as though this were the last,
writing it all out;
yet what I could not stem
were my tears, I find
Meaning: With my brush I wrote it all out, as though this were the last; yet what I could not hold back, I find, were my tears.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 868

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
With my brush, he says, I wrote it all out as though this were the last, yet what I could not stem were my tears. Though he has written out his love in a letter as if for the last time and drawn a line under it, his tears alone cannot be held back, and he laments this. Contrasting the letters that can be finished with tears that cannot be stopped, he conveys feelings that words cannot exhaust.
The author, "Former Provisional Master of the Western Capital Yorimasa," was Minamoto no Yorimasa. The son of Minamoto no Nakamasa of the Settsu Genji, he rose to Junior Third Rank. He later raised troops with Prince Mochihito to overthrow the Taira, was defeated at Uji and took his own life. He was also renowned as a poet.
The last line, "namida narikeri," is shared with 849, 872 and 890 in this book. 872 in particular, with its fourth line "sekiyararenu wa," closely resembles this poem in singing of tears that cannot be stemmed.

First line, "mizukuki wa": "mizukuki" is the brush, or handwriting, here meaning a letter.
Second line, "kore o kagiri to": "as if this were the last," showing it was written as a final letter.
Third line, "kakitsumete": "kakitsumu" means to write on and on, to write everything out.
Fourth line, "sekiaenu mono wa": "seku" is to dam a flow, and "aenu" means "unable to do fully," "what could not be stemmed." It echoes "sekiyararenu wa" in the fourth line of 872 in this book.
Fifth line, "namida narikeri": "keri" expresses the exclamation of realization, "it was my tears, I find." It is the same last line as 849, 872 and 890 in this book.
Author: Minamoto no Yorimasa
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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