Iwa sosoku mizu yori hoka ni oto seneba kokoro hitotsu o sumashite zo kiku - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

岩そそく水よりほかに音せねば
心ひとつを澄ましてぞ聞く

Roma-ji: Iwa sosoku mizu yori hoka ni oto seneba kokoro hitotsu o sumashite zo kiku
English Translation: Since there is no sound
but the water that pours down
over the rocks,
I listen with my one heart
made clear and still within me
Meaning: Since there is no sound but the water pouring over the rocks, I listen with my heart alone, made clear and still.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1134

Headnote: "Composed on the theme of the sound of water at a quiet dwelling"
This poem was composed on the theme "the sound of water at a quiet dwelling." Since there is no sound but the water pouring over the rocks, I listen with my one heart made clear, he says. In a quiet dwelling far from the world, nothing can be heard but the water flowing over the rocks. As he listens to it, his heart too grows clear like the water, and he sings of the stillness of a secluded life together with a clarified state of mind.
The author, "the Prince of Ninnaji (Shukaku)," is Prince-Priest Shukaku. The second son of Emperor Go-Shirakawa, he entered Ninnaji and became its head. He loved waka and associated with many poets.
It shares the closing "-te zo kiku" with "kotaete zo kiku" in the fifth line of 1149 of this book, both turning the heart to a sound that echoes in stillness. The text gives the fourth line as "kokoro hitotsu o," which does not agree with "kokoro hitotsu ni" in the reading line; here the text is followed.

First line, "iwa sosoku": "pouring down over the rocks."
Second line, "mizu yori hoka ni": "other than the sound of the water."
Third line, "oto seneba": "ne" is the realis of the negative "zu," and with "ba" it gives a reason, "since there is no sound."
Fourth line, "kokoro hitotsu o": "my one heart alone."
Fifth line, "sumashite zo kiku": "sumasu" means to make the heart clear and still, an associated word of water. "Zo" is an emphatic binding particle closing with the attributive "kiku." It shares "-te zo kiku" with "kotaete zo kiku" in the fifth line of 1149 of this book.
Author: Cloistered Prince Shukaku
Source: Senzai Wakashu
Prev Poem: Ukiyo o ba sutete irinishi yama naredo kimi ga tou ni ya iden to suran
Next Poem: Tare mo mina tsuyu no mi zo kashi to omou ni mo kokoro tomarishi kusa no io kana