Yukusue o omoeba kanashi Tsu no kuni no Nagara no hashi mo na wa nokorikeri - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

ゆくすゑを思へば悲し津の国の
長柄の橋も名は残りけり

Roma-ji: Yukusue o omoeba kanashi Tsu no kuni no Nagara no hashi mo na wa nokorikeri
English Translation: When I think ahead
to what is to come, I grieve:
the Nagara Bridge
in the land of Tsu, it seems,
has only its name remaining
Meaning: When I think of what lies ahead, I grieve: even of the Nagara Bridge in the land of Tsu, only the name remains.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1030

Headnote: "Composed when, on a pilgrimage to Tennōji, I heard at Nagara that this was the site of the bridge"
On a pilgrimage to Tennōji, he heard at Nagara someone say that this was where the Nagara Bridge had stood, and composed this poem. When I think of what lies ahead I grieve; of the Nagara Bridge in Tsu only the name remains, he says. The Nagara Bridge, famed since ancient times, is now only a site, with nothing but its name left. Seeing this, he thinks of his own future, in which not even a name may remain, and grieves.
The author, "Minamoto no Toshiyori, Lord," was a son of Minamoto no Tsunenobu. He was active at the center of the poetic circle of Emperor Horikawa and, by order of Retired Emperor Shirakawa, compiled the Kin'yō Wakashū. He wrote the treatise Toshiyori Zuinō, and a poem of his is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
From this poem through 1032, three poems on the Nagara Bridge stand together. This one says only the name remains, the next, 1031, says the bridge pillars remain as of old, and 1032 says not even a trace remains, showing three views of what is left of the same bridge.

First line, "yukusue o": "my own future, what lies ahead."
Second line, "omoeba kanashi": "ba" expresses a fixed condition, "when I think of it, I grieve." The poem pauses here.
Third line, "Tsu no kuni no": "of the province of Settsu."
Fourth line, "Nagara no hashi mo": the Nagara Bridge that spanned the Yodo River in Settsu, a famous place used as a figure for things grown old. It answers "mukashi nagara no" in the fourth line of the next poem, 1031, and "Nagara no hashi wa" in the second line of 1032.
Fifth line, "na wa nokorikeri": "keri" expresses exclamation at a realization, "the name remains," singing that though the bridge itself has decayed, only its name is left.
Author: Minamoto no Toshiyori
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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