Au koto wa itsu to nagisa no hamachidori nami no tachii ni ne o nomi zo naku - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

逢ふことはいつとなぎさの浜千鳥
波の立ち居に音をのみぞ泣く

Roma-ji: Au koto wa itsu to nagisa no hamachidori nami no tachii ni ne o nomi zo naku
English Translation: When we two shall meet,
none can tell, like the plovers
on the water's edge:
as the waves rise and settle
I can only cry aloud
Meaning: When we shall meet, no one knows; like the plovers on the shore that rise and settle with each wave, I only cry aloud.
Commentary: Book Seven Love Poems I 361

No one knows when they will meet, and like the plovers on the shore that rise and settle as the waves chase them, crying all the while, the poet does nothing but weep whether rising or sitting. The figure of the shore plovers carries a lament of love that can find no rest.
Some manuscripts name Minamoto no Masasada as the author.
Where poem 352 in this book sings of weeping along with the crowing of the cock, this poem sings of weeping along with the plovers.

First line, 'au koto wa', means as for meeting.
Second line, 'itsu to nagisa no', is a pivot word in which nagisa means both naki, there is no knowing when, and nagisa, the water's edge, left in kana. 'Kai mo nagisa no' in poem 409 in this book uses the same pivot word.
Third line, 'hamachidori', means plovers on the shore, and the first three lines form a preface leading to the crying.
Fourth line, 'nami no tachii ni', means each time the waves come and go, layering the plovers rising and settling over the poet's own restless rising and lying down.
Final line, 'ne o nomi zo naku', means I only cry aloud, the particle zo binding with the attributive naku.
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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