Koishiku wa kite mo miyo kashi chihayaburu kami no isamuru michi naranaku ni - Izumi Shikibu Nikki(English Translation & Meaning)

戀しくはきてもみよかし千早振
神のいさむる道ならなくに

Roma-ji: Koishiku wa kite mo miyo kashi chihayaburu kami no isamuru michi naranaku ni
English Translation: If you long for me,
then come and see me, by all means;
it is not a road
that the mighty gods of old
have ever forbidden
Meaning: If you long for me, then come and see me; it is hardly a road the gods have forbidden.
Commentary: 44 The Wild Pink

Even after their exchange about the night he hinted at taking vows, Izumi Shikibu remained deeply sad and could only grieve. Around noon, as she was thinking that she should have made up her mind and gone to his residence sooner, a letter came from the prince.
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 the prince's "Ana koishi ima mo miteshika yamagatsu no kakiho ni ouru yamato nadeshiko" arrived, Izumi Shikibu exclaimed, "Oh, how maddening," and sent back this poem.
The prince smiled as he read it. Since he had been studying the sutras at that time, he replied with "Aumichi wa kami no isame ni aranedomo nori no yomogi ni oreba tatanu zo."
This poem quotes unchanged a poem from episode seventy-one of The Tales of Ise, composed by a woman serving the Ise Priestess: if you long for me, come and see me, for love is not a road the gods forbid.

The opening lines mean "if you long for me, come and see," with an imperative and a particle of emphasis, taking up his "how I long" and "if only I could see."
The third line, "chihayaburu," is a pillow word for the gods. The lower verses mean "since it is not a road the gods forbid," ending in an exclamatory negative. To the prince, who had conveyed his longing through an old poem, she too answers with an old poem unchanged, retorting that if he longs for her he should come himself instead of sending words, delighting in the game of answering one old poem with another.
Author: Izumi Shikibu
Source: Izumi Shikibu Nikki
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