Ikade ware hima yuku koma o hikitomete mukashi ni kaeru michi o tazunen - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

いかで我ひまゆく駒を引きとめて
昔に返る道を尋ねん

Roma-ji: Ikade ware hima yuku koma o hikitomete mukashi ni kaeru michi o tazunen
English Translation: Somehow I would rein
in the colt that dashes past
the crack in the door,
and search out the road
that leads back to days of old
Meaning: Somehow I would rein in the colt that races past the crack in the door, the swiftly passing days, and seek the road that leads back to the past.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1087

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Somehow I would rein in the colt that races past the crack and seek the road back to the past, she says. "The colt passing the crack" likens the swift passing of days to glimpsing a running horse through a crack in a door, a figure from the Zhuangzi. Seeing the days that fly like arrows as a horse, she wishes to pull its reins, stop it, and find the road back to the past she longs for.
The author, "Mikawa no Naishi of Retired Emperor Nijō," was a lady who served Emperor Nijō and was called Mikawa no Naishi.
It shares "hiku" with "hiku hito mo" in the first line of the preceding poem, 1086. It also shares a longing for the past with 1080 and 1081 of this book.

First line, "ikade ware": "ikade" expresses a wish, "somehow," answering "n" in the fifth line.
Second line, "hima yuku koma o": "the colt that passes the crack," a figure for the swiftly passing days.
Third line, "hikitomete": "pulling its reins to stop it." It shares "hiku" with "hiku hito mo" in the first line of the preceding poem, 1086.
Fourth line, "mukashi ni kaeru": "returning to the past." It shares a longing for the past with "mukashi wa oi o" in the fourth line of 1080 of this book.
Fifth line, "michi o tazunen": "n" is the auxiliary of intention, "I would seek the road." "Road" is chosen to suit the horse.
Author: Nijōin no Mikawa no Naishi
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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