Kakimidaru kokoro yasumenu kotogusa wa aware aware to nageku bakari ka

かき乱る心休めぬ言種は
あはれあはれと嘆くばかりか

Roma-ji: Kakimidaru kokoro yasumenu kotogusa wa aware aware to nageku bakari ka
English Translation: Tangled as it is,
this heart that never rests, are
the words on my lips
nothing but 'ah me, ah me,'
nothing but my grieving sighs?
Meaning: Are the only words on the lips of this tangled, restless heart 'ah me, ah me,' nothing but sighs of grief?
Commentary: Love Poems 679

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Love"
Unable to rest his tangled heart for even a moment, the poet asks whether the only words that come to his lips are 'ah, ah,' sighs of grief. The poem expresses the depth of a love whose pain can only be voiced in repeated wordless sighs.
It resonates with 'the heart tangled in thought' of 675 in this book, carrying on the theme of the disordered heart.

First line, “kakimidaru”: to be badly tangled, kaki being an intensifying prefix.
Second line, “kokoro yasumenu”: never letting the heart rest.
Third line, “kotogusa wa”: kotogusa is a habitual phrase, the words always on one's lips.
Fourth line, “aware aware to”: aware is a cry of feeling or grief: ah, ah.
Fifth line, “nageku bakari ka”: bakari limits and ka questions: is it only grieving?
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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