Chitose made musubishi mizu mo tsuyu bakari waga mi no tame to omoi ya wa seshi - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

千歳まで結びし水も露ばかり
わが身のためと思ひやはせし

Roma-ji: Chitose made musubishi mizu mo tsuyu bakari waga mi no tame to omoi ya wa seshi
English Translation: For a thousand years
the water scooped in his hands,
by so much as a dewdrop,
was it ever for his own sake,
did he think so? Never
Meaning: The water he scooped up with his hands for a thousand years, did he ever think, even by a dewdrop's worth, that it was for his own sake? Never.
Commentary: Book Nineteen Buddhist Poems 1213

Headnote: "Composed on the Devadatta chapter"
This poem was composed on the Devadatta chapter of the Lotus Sutra. The chapter tells how the Buddha, in a former life as a king, served a hermit who expounded the Lotus Sutra for a thousand years, gathering fruit, drawing water and collecting firewood as his practice. Of the water drawn for a thousand years, did he ever think, even a little, that it was for himself? he says, praising the selfless heart that served wholly in search of the Law.
The author, "Bishop Kakuga," was a monk of the late Heian period who held the rank of sōzu.
1242 in this book also treats the Devadatta chapter, and both take as their subject the thousand years of drawing water in service of the hermit. This poem portrays the selfless service, that one the years spent with only a reflection in the water for a companion, showing the same tale from different sides.

First line, "chitose made": "for as long as a thousand years," the years of serving the hermit. It answers "chitose o okuru" in the fourth line of 1242 in this book.
Second line, "musubishi mizu mo": "musubu" means to scoop up water in the hands, and "shi" is the attributive of the past "ki."
Third line, "tsuyu bakari": "by so much as a dewdrop," and "tsuyu," dew, is an associated word of "mizu," water, in the second line.
Fourth line, "waga mi no tame to": "for my own sake."
Fifth line, "omoi ya wa seshi": "ya wa" is a rhetorical binding particle closing with "shi," the attributive of the past "ki," "did he think so? He did not."
Author: Kakuga
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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