Omoiki ya tanabatatsume ni mi o nashite ama no kawara o nagamubeshi to wa - Izumi Shikibu Nikki(English Translation & Meaning)

思ひきや七夕つめにみをなして
天の河原をなかむへしとは

Roma-ji: Omoiki ya tanabatatsume ni mi o nashite ama no kawara o nagamubeshi to wa
English Translation: Did I ever think
that I would become the Weaver Maid
and, standing on the shore
of the River of Heaven,
spend my nights gazing so?
Meaning: Did I ever imagine I would become the Weaver Maid, gazing out over the banks of the River of Heaven, longing for one I cannot meet?
Commentary: 18 The Tanabata Festival

After the misunderstanding over the rumors, the seventh month came. On the seventh day, the Tanabata festival, many men fond of romantic games sent her poems about the Weaver Maid and the Herdsman, but Izumi Shikibu did not even look at them. On such occasions the prince had never failed to write, she thought, and she was wondering whether he had forgotten her altogether when a letter came from him.
The woman is Izumi Shikibu, daughter of Ōe no Masamune and, as the wife of Tachibana no Michisada, Governor of Izumi, mother of Koshikibu no Naishi. The Prince of the Dazaifu is Prince Atsumichi, fourth son of Emperor Reizei, so called because he served as Governor-General of the Dazaifu.
On the festival, the prince wrote nothing but this poem.
Izumi Shikibu was amused to think that, for all that had happened, he could not let the occasion pass after all, and replied with "Nagamuran sora o dani mizu tanabata ni imaru bakari no waga mi to omoeba." Reading it, the prince felt that he could not abandon her after all.

The first line means "did I ever think it?" that is, "I never imagined," with a past-tense auxiliary and a rhetorical particle. The second and third lines mean "having become the Weaver Maid," likening himself to the star who waits all year for a single meeting.
The lower verses mean "that I should gaze at the banks of the River of Heaven," the gazing being that of one lost in thought, with an auxiliary of expectation. He laments that he, a man, finds himself in the place of the waiting woman, gazing at the Tanabata sky unable to meet his love, and through the festival conceit conveys his regret at having stayed away because of the rumors.
Author: Prince Atsumichi
Source: Izumi Shikibu Nikki
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