Koishinaba ukaren tama yo shibashi dani waga omou hito no tsuma ni todomare - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

恋ひ死なば浮かれん魂よしばしだに
我が思ふ人のつまにとどまれ

Roma-ji: Koishinaba ukaren tama yo shibashi dani waga omou hito no tsuma ni todomare
English Translation: If I die of love,
O my soul that will drift loose,
for a while at least
linger on the hem of the robe
of the one I hold so dear
Meaning: If I should die of love, O my soul that will drift away from me, linger at least a little while on the hem of the robe of the one I love.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Love Poems V 923

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
If I die of love, he says, O soul that will drift away, linger at least a while on the hem of the one I love. Drawing on the belief that when longing reaches its height the soul leaves the body and wanders, he calls on his own soul, which will leave his body after death, and prays that it will at least stay by his beloved, caught on the hem of her robe. It is a poem of fierce attachment that refuses to leave the beloved even in death.
The author, "Takafusa, Intendant of the Left Gate Guards," is Fujiwara no Takafusa. The son of Provisional Major Counselor Fujiwara no Takasue, he served as Intendant of the Left Gate Guards and later rose to Major Counselor. He married a daughter of Taira no Kiyomori, and there is a collection of his love exchanges, the Takafusa Shū.
The next poem, 924, is Kojijū's "kimi kou to ukinuru tama no," and its "ukinuru tama" and "tsuma ni musubarenuran" answer this poem's "ukaren tama" and "tsuma ni todomare." This poem, from a man's side, would keep his wandering soul on his beloved's hem, while the next, from a woman's side, asks where her soul has gone, so that the two poems form a pair.

First line, "koishinaba": "koishinu" means to die of longing, and the irrealis with "ba" gives a hypothetical condition, "if I should die of love."
Second line, "ukaren tama yo": "ukaru" means to leave the body and wander, "n" is the attributive of the conjectural "mu," and "yo" an interjectory particle of address. It answers "ukinuru tama no" in the second line of the next poem, 924.
Third line, "shibashi dani": "dani" expresses a minimal wish, "for a little while at least."
Fourth line, "waga omou hito no": "of the one I love."
Fifth line, "tsuma ni todomare": "tsuma" is the hem at either side of the lower front of a robe, and recalls the custom of tying a wandering soul to the hem of a garment. "Todomare" is the imperative. It answers "ika naru tsuma ni" in the fourth line of the next poem, 924.
Author: Fujiwara no Takafusa
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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