Ōko naki mono to shiru shiru nani ni ka wa nageki o yama to kori wa tsumuramu - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

あふこなきものと知る知る何にかは
なげきをやまとこりはつむらむ

Roma-ji: Ōko naki mono to shiru shiru nani ni ka wa nageki o yama to kori wa tsumuramu
English Translation: Knowing all the while
there's no pole and no chance to meet,
what can be the cause
that I cut this grief like wood
and stack it mountain-high
Meaning: Knowing all along there is no carrying pole, no chance to meet, why do I cut grief like firewood and pile it up as high as a mountain?
Commentary: Book Eight Love Poems II 498

Knowing that there is no chance to meet, as there is no pole to carry the load, why, the poet asks, does he cut grief like firewood and stack it as high as a mountain? Stringing together pivot words tied to firewood, the poem conveys a grief that piles up in vain.
Together with poems 494 and 499 in this book, it forms a sequence on nageki, koru and ōko.

First line, 'ōko naki', is a pivot word in which ōko means both a time to meet and a carrying pole, left in kana. It is the same pivot word as ōko in the fourth line of poem 494 in this book.
Second line, 'mono to shiru shiru', means knowing all the while, the doubled verb expressing continuation.
Third line, 'nani ni ka wa', means for what reason, the particle ka wa answered by ramu in the final line.
Fourth line, 'nageki o yama to', is a pivot word in which nageki means both grief and wood cut for fuel, left in kana. Yama to means like a mountain.
Final line, 'kori wa tsumuramu', is a pivot word in which kori means both cutting wood and being sick of something, left in kana. Tsumu, to pile, is followed by the attributive of the conjectural ramu, closing in answer to ka wa in the third line.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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