classic waka stream

思ひやれ筧の水の絶え絶えに
なりゆくほどの心細さを
Roma-ji

Omoiyare kakehi no mizu no taedae ni nariyuku hodo no kokorobososa o

English Translation
Think of it, I pray —
like water down a bamboo pipe
flowing in fits and starts,
how forlorn I have become
as your visits dwindle away
Meaning
Think, I beg you, how forlorn I feel as your visits grow ever fewer, like the water in a bamboo pipe that trickles more and more faintly.
Commentary
Book Eight Love Poems II 258

Overlaying the loneliness of a lover's dwindling visits on water trickling faintly from a bamboo pipe, the poet appeals to the beloved to imagine how she feels.

The first line, "omoiyare" (think of it), calls on the beloved in the imperative, with a break after the first line, and by inversion takes "kokorobososa o" in the final line as its object.
The second line, "kakehi no mizu no," refers to water drawn through a pipe of bamboo or wood, a scene suggesting a mountain dwelling.
The third line, "taedae ni" (in fits and starts), overlays water breaking off with visits growing rare. Poem 239 of this book also, with "taedae narade," overlays broken water on a broken relationship.
The fourth line, "nariyuku hodo no," means "as it gradually becomes so."
The final line, "kokorobososa o" (my forlornness), places the object of "omoiyare" at the end by inversion, closing with an appeal to her loneliness.
Source
Shika Wakashu
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