Sumiyoshi no Asazawa ono no wasuremizu taedae narade au yoshi mo gana - Shika Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

住吉の浅沢小野の忘れ水
絶え絶えならで逢ふよしもがな

Roma-ji: Sumiyoshi no Asazawa ono no wasuremizu taedae narade au yoshi mo gana
English Translation: Like the hidden stream
of Asazawa's small field
in Sumiyoshi —
if only there were a way
to meet not in fits and starts
Meaning: Not like the hidden stream in the fields of Asazawa at Sumiyoshi, flowing only in fits and starts — if only there were some way for us to meet without such breaks.
Commentary: Book Eight Love Poems II 239

Using as its preface the "forgotten water" that trickles through the fields of Asazawa at Sumiyoshi, the poem wishes for a way to meet without interruption rather than in fits and starts. The faint, broken flow of water in the fields is overlaid on a relationship that will not go as hoped.

The first line, "Sumiyoshi no," names a poetic place in Settsu Province; the first three lines form a preface leading to "taedae" (in fits and starts).
The second line, "Asazawa ono no," refers to a marsh and field at Sumiyoshi celebrated in poetry.
The third line, "wasuremizu," means water flowing unseen and intermittently through fields, and "wasure" (forgotten) also hints at being forgotten by a lover.
The fourth line, "taedae narade," uses the negative "de": not in fits and starts. Poem 258 of this book, with "kakehi no mizu no taedae ni," likewise overlays broken water on a broken relationship.
The final line, "au yoshi mo gana," ends with the wishful "mo gana": if only there were a way to meet. It shares this final line with poem 190 of Book Seven.
Source: Shika Wakashu
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