Tama no o wa taen mono ka wa chigiriteshi nagaki kokoro ni musubikometeki - Izumi Shikibu Nikki(English Translation & Meaning)

玉の緖はたえんものかは契りてし
なかき心に結ひこめてき

Roma-ji: Tama no o wa taen mono ka wa chigiriteshi nagaki kokoro ni musubikometeki
English Translation: How could the thread of life
ever break? For I have bound it,
tied it fast within
the long and lasting heart that made
the promise that we shared
Meaning: How could your thread of life ever break? I have bound it fast within the long, enduring heart with which we made our vow.
Commentary: 39 The Thread of Life

After their exchange on the frosty morning, Izumi Shikibu fell ill, perhaps from a cold, though not seriously. The prince wrote again and again, "How are you? How are you?"
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.
When Izumi Shikibu, somewhat recovered, sent "Taeshi koro taene to omoishi tama no o o kimi ni yori mata oshimaruru kana" with the words that she had come to wish to live a little longer, the prince wrote, "How very glad I am," and sent back this poem.
Meanwhile the year was drawing to its close, and at the beginning of the eleventh month, early on a snowy morning, a poem about the first snow would come from the prince.

The opening lines ask "could the thread of life ever break?" taking up her "thread of life" and "break," with a rhetorical ending. The third line means "which we vowed," with auxiliaries of completion and past.
The lower verses mean "I have bound it within our long-lasting heart," where "long," associated with the thread, joins length of life with constancy of heart, and "bind" too belongs to the thread. Linking thread of life, breaking, length and binding as associated words, he heartens her, newly risen from her sickbed, declaring that her life is held fast by their vow and will never break.
Author: Prince Atsumichi
Source: Izumi Shikibu Nikki
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