Koikoite koyoi bakari ya tanabata no makura ni chiri no tsumorazaruramu - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

恋ひ恋ひて今宵ばかりや七夕の
枕に塵の積もらざるらむ

Roma-ji: Koikoite koyoi bakari ya tanabata no makura ni chiri no tsumorazaruramu
English Translation: Longing on and on,
only on this night, perhaps,
for the Weaver Maid
upon her pillow no dust
will gather as it has before
Meaning: After longing and longing all year, perhaps only tonight does no dust gather on the Weaver Maid's pillow.
Commentary: Book Three Autumn Poems 161

The Weaver Maid has longed all year and slept alone, but tonight, when she meets the Herdsman, her pillow will surely be free of dust. Through the image of dust on an unused pillow, the poem sympathizes with the long loneliness of one who meets her love only once a year.
From poem 158 through poem 167 in this book come poems on Tanabata, singing of the yearly meeting of the Herdsman and the Weaver Maid, the custom of lending robes to the Weaver, and the tears of parting at dawn.
The author was a lady-in-waiting known as Kawachi who served a former Ise Priestess. She was one of the poets of the Horikawa Hundred-Poem Sequences.

First line, 'koikoite', means longing and longing, the doubled verb showing how long the yearning lasts.
Second line, 'koyoi bakari ya', means tonight alone, and the particle ya binds with ramu in the final line.
Third line, 'tanabata no', refers to the Weaver Maid.
Fourth line, 'makura ni chiri no', means dust on the pillow, evoking a pillow unused through long nights alone.
Final line, 'tsumorazaruramu', means will it not gather, ramu being the auxiliary of present conjecture.
Author: Former Ise Priestess's Kawachi
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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