Hayaki se ni tatanu bakari zo mizuguruma ware mo ukiyo ni meguru to o shire - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

早き瀬に立たぬばかりぞ水車
我も憂き世にめぐるとを知れ

Roma-ji: Hayaki se ni tatanu bakari zo mizuguruma ware mo ukiyo ni meguru to o shire
English Translation: Only that I do not
stand within the rushing shoals,
O water-wheel, know
that I too in this sad world
am turning round and round
Meaning: Water wheel, the only difference is that I do not stand in the rushing shallows; know that I too go round and round in this sorrowful world.
Commentary: Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems I 561

Water wheel, the poet says, the only difference is that I do not stand in the swift shallows; know that I too go round and round in this sorrowful world. Calling to a water wheel that turns without rest, he overlays it with himself, a man who has left the world yet cannot fully part from it and goes about from place to place.
The author, Gyōson, was a son of the Consultant Minamoto no Motohira. A monk of Onjōji who rose to Archbishop, he was also renowned as a mountain ascetic.

First line, 'hayaki se ni', means in the swift shallows.
Second line, 'tatanu bakari zo', means only that I do not stand there, the particle zo giving emphasis.
Third line, 'mizuguruma', means water wheel, used as an address. The poem breaks here.
Fourth line, 'ware mo ukiyo ni', means I too in this sorrowful world, joining the water wheel of the third line with the poet himself.
Final line, 'meguru to o shire', means know that I go round, meguru overlaying the turning of the wheel with a person wandering through the world. Shire is imperative.
Author: Gyōson
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
Prev Poem: Wasurarete nageku tamoto o miru kara ni sa mo aranu sode no shiorenuru kana
Next Poem: Tsukaetsuru konomi no hodo o kazoureba aware kozue ni narinikeru kana