Taezu tatsu Muro no Yashima no keburi kana ika ni tsukisenu omoi naruran - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

絶えず立つ室の八島の煙かな
いかに尽きせぬおもひなるらん

Roma-ji: Taezu tatsu Muro no Yashima no keburi kana ika ni tsukisenu omoi naruran
English Translation: Rising without end,
the smoke of Muro no Yashima,
how it fills the air!
What a ceaseless fire of longing
must be burning there below
Meaning: How the smoke of Muro no Yashima rises without end! What an inexhaustible fire of longing must be burning there.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1041

Headnote: "Composed on Muro no Yashima"
This poem was composed on Muro no Yashima. How the smoke of Muro no Yashima rises without cease; what an endless fire of longing it must be, he says. Muro no Yashima was a famous place in Shimotsuke where vapor was said to rise like smoke. Seeing the never-ending smoke, he imagines a fire of unending longing burning beneath it, letting the "hi" of "omoi," longing, also mean fire.
The author, "Fujiwara no Akikata," was a poet of the late Heian period whose biography is not known in detail.
From this poem to the end of the book, poems on famous places in various provinces continue. Following the poems on waterfalls, this one sings of a famous place where smoke rises.

First line, "taezu tatsu": "rising without end."
Second line, "Muro no Yashima no": a famous place in Shimotsuke where vapor was said to rise like smoke.
Third line, "keburi kana": "kana" is exclamatory, "how the smoke rises." The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "ika ni tsukisenu": "how inexhaustible."
Fifth line, "omoi naruran": "omoi" is a pivot word meaning longing and containing "hi," fire, associated with smoke. "Ran" is the auxiliary of present conjecture, "what a fire of longing it must be."
Author: Fujiwara no Akikata
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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