Shitaikuru koi no yakko no tabi nite mo mi no kuse nare ya yū todoroki wa - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

慕ひ来る恋の奴の旅にても
身の癖なれや夕轟きは

Roma-ji: Shitaikuru koi no yakko no tabi nite mo mi no kuse nare ya yū todoroki wa
English Translation: Love's faithful servant
comes trailing after me,
even on my journey;
is it a habit of my body,
this pounding heart at dusk?
Meaning: Love, like a faithful servant, follows after me even on my journey. Is it a habit grown into my body, this pounding of the heart at dusk?
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1192

Headnote: "Love on a journey"
This poem treats love on a journey. Because love's servant follows me, even on the road, is it a habit of my body, this pounding at dusk? he says. Likening the heart's longing to a manservant who follows his master everywhere, he jokes that the thought of love will not leave him even on a journey, and that his heart races for his beloved when evening falls, as if it were a habit he cannot shake. The use of the vulgar expression "love's servant" gives the poem its humorous touch.
The author, "Minamoto no Toshiyori Ason," was a son of the Major Counselor Minamoto no Tsunenobu. He was active in the poetry circle of Emperor Horikawa and compiled the Kin'yō Wakashū at the command of Retired Emperor Shirakawa.
It is the thirteenth of the humorous poems.

First line, "shitaikuru": "following after in devotion."
Second line, "koi no yakko no": "yakko" is a manservant, and love is likened to a servant who follows his master everywhere. The expression "love's servant" also appears in the Man'yōshū.
Third line, "tabi nite mo": "even on a journey."
Fourth line, "mi no kuse nare ya": "nare ya," the perfective form of the copula "nari" with the interrogative binding particle "ya," means "is it a habit of my body?"
Fifth line, "yū todoroki wa": "yū todoroki" is the pounding of the heart at dusk in longing for one's beloved, inverted with the fourth line.
Author: Minamoto no Toshiyori
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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