Koikoite mare ni au yo no ama no gawa kawase no tazu wa nakazu mo aranamu

恋ひ恋ひて稀に逢ふ夜の天の川
川瀬の鶴は鳴かずもあらなむ

Roma-ji: Koikoite mare ni au yo no ama no gawa kawase no tazu wa nakazu mo aranamu
English Translation: Longing, ever longing,
on this rare night they may meet
by the Milky Way,
O cranes upon the shallows,
please do not cry out tonight.
Meaning: On this rare night when the lovers, after long longing, can meet at last by the River of Heaven—cranes of the shallows, I beg you, do not cry.
Commentary: Autumn Poems 197

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Tanabata"
On the night of Tanabata, when the two stars meet at last after long longing, the poet prays that the cranes in the shallows of the River of Heaven will not cry, for their cries would announce the dawn and hasten the parting. He sets his regret over the lovers' brief meeting against the voices of the cranes.
In the source text consulted, a character in line 4 is missing and has been supplied from the Teika text's kawase no tazu wa.

Line 1, koikoite, means "longing on and on," showing how long the year of waiting has been.
Line 2 refers to the night of Tanabata, when they may meet only once a year.
Line 3 is the same as the opening of 196, naming the setting of Tanabata.
Line 4 refers to cranes in the shallows of the River of Heaven.
Line 5: namu is a particle of wishing addressed to another, "I wish you would not cry." In the next poem, 198, the poet wishes instead that the cranes would cry in sorrow at the parting, so the two poems pair a wish for silence with a wish for cries.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
Prev Poem: Ama no gawa kiri tachiwataru hikoboshi no tsumamukaebune haya mo koganamu
Next Poem: Tanabata no wakare o oshimi ama no gawa yasu no watari ni tazu mo nakanamu