Ika nareba nagare wa taenu Nakagawa ni ause no kazu no sukunakaruran - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

いかなれば流れは絶えぬ中川に
逢ふ瀬の数の少なかるらん

Roma-ji: Ika nareba nagare wa taenu Nakagawa ni ause no kazu no sukunakaruran
English Translation: Why should it be so,
when the flow never ceases
in the Naka River,
the shallows where we might meet
should be so very few
Meaning: Why should it be that in the Naka River, whose flow never ceases, the shallows of meeting should be so few?
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 889

Headnote: "Composed on the topic 'love that rarely meets but never breaks off'"
This poem was composed on the topic "love that rarely meets but never breaks off," a love in which meetings are rare but the bond does not end. Why, he asks, in the Naka River whose flow never ceases, are the shallows of meeting so few? Likening the river that flows unceasingly to the bond between the lovers that never breaks, he laments that though the bond endures, the "ause," "shallows of meeting," drawn from the river's shallows, that is, the chances to meet, are few. It is a poem that deftly distinguishes the topic's "rarely meets" and "never breaks off" through the river's flow and its shallows.
The author, "Fujiwara no Akiie Ason," was the son of Fujiwara no Shigeie of the Rokujō Fujiwara house. Born into a house of poetry, he was active as a poet.
The next poem, 890, also sings of a "Nakagawa." Where this poem sings of a Naka River whose flow never ceases, the next sings of a Nakagawa whose shallows are cut off and whose flow changes, drawing contrasting pictures of the same river.

First line, "ika nareba": "for what reason," answering "ran" in the last line.
Second line, "nagare wa taenu": "nagare," the river's flow, is a figure for the bond that never breaks, answering "never breaks off" in the topic. It contrasts with "nagare kawaru wa" in the fourth line of the next poem, 890.
Third line, "Nakagawa ni": "Nakagawa" is the name of a river, said to have flowed in the east of the capital. Like "Sano no Nakagawa" in the second line of the next poem, 890, it sings of a Nakagawa.
Fourth line, "ause no kazu no": "se" is a river's shallows, and "ause" means a chance to meet. "Nagare" and "se" are associated words for "Nakagawa."
Fifth line, "sukunakaruran": "ran" is an auxiliary conjecturing a present cause, "why should they be so few." It answers "rarely meets" in the topic and closes in response to "ika nareba" in the first line.
Author: Fujiwara no Akiie
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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