Somagawa ni orosu ikada no uki nagara sugiyuku mono wa wagami narikeri - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

そま川に下すいかだのうきながら
過ぎゆく物は我が身なりけり

Roma-ji: Somagawa ni orosu ikada no uki nagara sugiyuku mono wa wagami narikeri
English Translation: Like the raft sent down
the timber river, floating,
in sorrow, on it goes;
the thing that passes onward
is, I find, my very self
Meaning: Like a raft sent down a timber river, floating on as it goes, what passes on in sorrow, I find, is my own self.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1112

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed as a poem expressing my grievances"
This poem was composed as a poem of grievance. As a raft sent down a timber river floats on, what passes on in sorrow is my own self, she says. In the raft carrying timber down from the mountains, swept along as it floats on the water, she sees herself borne along by the months and years in her sorrowful state. The first and second lines form an introductory phrase leading to "uki."
The author, "the Bettō of the Nijō Grand Empress Dowager," was a lady who served the Nijō Grand Empress Dowager, and her biography is not known in detail.
It shares "uki nagara" with "kaku uki nagara" in the fourth line of 1110 of this book, both singing of a self that passes on in sorrow.

First line, "somagawa ni": "somagawa" is a river down which timber cut from the forested mountains is floated.
Second line, "orosu ikada no": "of the raft sent down." Together with the first line it forms an introductory phrase leading to "uki" in the third line.
Third line, "uki nagara": "uki" is a pivot word joining "uki," floating, said of the raft, and "uki," sorrowful, said of herself. It is the same expression as "kaku uki nagara" in the fourth line of 1110 of this book.
Fourth line, "sugiyuku mono wa": overlapping the raft flowing past with herself passing on with the years.
Fifth line, "wagami narikeri": "keri" is exclamatory, expressing the realization that it is her own self.
Author: Bettō of the Nijō Grand Empress Dowager
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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