Ikanareba kōri wa tokuru harukaze ni musubohoruramu aoyagi no ito - Shika Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

いかなれば氷は解くる春風に
結ぼほるらむ青柳の糸

Roma-ji: Ikanareba kōri wa tokuru harukaze ni musubohoruramu aoyagi no ito
English Translation: How can it be so?
The spring breeze melts the ice,
yet in that same breeze
why should they be knotted up,
the threads of the green willow?
Meaning: Why is it that in the spring breeze that melts the ice, the threads of the green willow only tangle themselves into knots?
Commentary: Book One Spring Poems 15

The spring breeze loosens the ice, yet the threads of the willow, blown by the same breeze, become tangled and knotted; the poem asks why, with the pleasure of a clever paradox. The paired words "melt" and "knot" capture the willow swaying in the wind.
The author is said to be Minamoto no Suetō. Taking up the thread conceit of the preceding poem, the willow poems continue.

The first line, "how can it be so," is a question word answered by "ramu" in the fourth line.
The second line, "melts the ice," recalls the ice melted by the spring breeze in poem 1. "Melt" and the "knotted" of the fourth line form a pair.
The third line, "in that same breeze," carries the sense of although it is the same breeze, leading on adversatively.
The fourth line, "knotted up," means threads tangled and tied, closed with "ramu" conjecturing the cause.
The last line, "the threads of the green willow," likens slender willow branches to threads; with the "green willow" of the preceding poem and the "willows by the palace fence" of the next, the willow poems continue.
Source: Shika Wakashu
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