Kazu narade kokoro ni mi o ba makasenedo mi ni shitagau wa kokoro narikeri - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

数ならで心に身をばまかせねど
身に従ふは心なりけり

Roma-ji: Kazu narade kokoro ni mi o ba makasenedo mi ni shitagau wa kokoro narikeri
English Translation: Of no account,
I cannot give my body up
to my heart's desire,
yet what follows the body
is, I find, the heart itself
Meaning: Being of no account, I cannot let my body follow my heart's will, yet I find it is my heart that follows where my body's lot leads.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1096

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Of no account, I cannot give my body to my heart's will, yet what follows the body, I find, is the heart, she says. Being of low station, she cannot conduct herself as her heart desires. Yet in fact it is the heart that changes to follow the body's circumstances, and she looks keenly at the relation of heart and body. It is a deeply introspective poem reflecting on the constraints of life in service and the heart that grows used to them. It is also found in the Murasaki Shikibu Shū.
The author, "Murasaki Shikibu," was a daughter of Fujiwara no Tametoki. She served Jōtōmon'in Shōshi and wrote The Tale of Genji.
It shares the first line "kazu narade" with 1079 of this book. It also shares the relation of heart and body with 1078 of this book, which asks whether the brooding heart will go ahead of the body as a guide out of the sorrowful world.

First line, "kazu narade": "being of no account." It is the same first line as 1079 of this book.
Second line, "kokoro ni mi o ba": "my body to my heart's will," with "o ba" a strengthened form of the object particle "o." It shares the pairing of heart and body with "kokoro ya mi ni mo" in the second line of 1078 of this book.
Third line, "makasenedo": "ne" is the realis of the negative "zu" and "do" concessive, "though I cannot entrust it."
Fourth line, "mi ni shitagau wa": "what follows the body's lot," reversing the relation of heart and body in "kokoro ni mi o" in the second line.
Fifth line, "kokoro narikeri": "keri" is exclamatory, expressing the realization that it is the heart.
Author: Murasaki Shikibu
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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