Kumimiteshi kokoro hitotsu o shirube nite nonaka no shimizu wasure ya wa suru - Shika Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

汲み見てし心一つをしるべにて
野中の清水忘れやはする

Roma-ji: Kumimiteshi kokoro hitotsu o shirube nite nonaka no shimizu wasure ya wa suru
English Translation: With that single heart
I knew when once I drew it
to serve as my guide,
how could I ever forget
the clear spring in the meadow
Meaning: Guided by the heart I came to know when once I drew from it, how could I ever forget the clear spring in the meadow — or you, with whom I once shared my heart?
Commentary: Book Eight Love Poems II 263

Guided by the heart he came to know when he once drew from the clear spring in the meadow, the poet vows never to forget it, expressing his resolve never to forget the one with whom he shared his heart.
The poem draws on an anonymous poem in the Kokin Wakashu, which says that though the old spring in the meadow has grown tepid, those who know its former heart still draw from it.

The first line, "kumimiteshi," uses the perfective "tsu" and attributive past "shi" to say he once drew and tasted the water, standing for a past in which hearts were shared.
The second line, "kokoro hitotsu o" (that single heart), names the one unchanging basis of his feeling.
The third line, "shirube nite" (as my guide), means taking it as a guide.
The fourth line, "nonaka no shimizu" (the clear spring in the meadow), names a poetic place said to have been on Inamino Plain in Harima, sung of since the Kokin Wakashu as a token for remembering a former love and one's original heart.
The final line, "wasure ya wa suru," forms a rhetorical kakari-musubi of "ya wa" and the attributive "suru": how could I forget? It shares this final line with 260 of this book.
Author: Fujiwara no Nakazane
Source: Shika Wakashu
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