Uki mi o shi watasu to kikeba amaobune nori ni kokoro o kakenu hi zo naki - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

うき身をし渡すと聞けば海人小舟
のりに心をかけぬ日ぞなき

Roma-ji: Uki mi o shi watasu to kikeba amaobune nori ni kokoro o kakenu hi zo naki
English Translation: Since I hear it bears
this wretched self to the far shore,
like a fisher's skiff,
there is never a day I do not
set my heart upon the Law
Meaning: Since I hear that it carries my wretched self across to the far shore, there is not a day I do not set my heart on the Law, as on boarding a fisher's little boat.
Commentary: Book Ten Miscellaneous Poems II 639

Since the poet hears that the Law carries one's wretched self from this shore of delusion to the far shore of enlightenment, there is no day on which the poet does not set the heart on it, as on boarding a fisher's little boat. Likening the Law that saves all beings to a boat that ferries people across, the poem expresses a heart that clings to the Buddha's salvation.
Poem 647 in this book also likens the Law to a boat, rowing away from the sea of suffering with the voice of the nembutsu as an oar. The fourth line's kokoro o kakenu also echoes omoi mo kakenu in the fourth line of the next poem, 640.

First line, 'uki mi o shi', means this wretched self, the particle shi adding emphasis. Uki mi, sorrowful self, carries the sense of uki, floating, through its ties to the boat.
Second line, 'watasu to kikeba', means since I hear it carries across, the Buddha's salvation ferrying beings from this shore to the far shore.
Third line, 'amaobune', means a fisher's small boat, leading to nori in the fourth line.
Fourth line, 'nori ni kokoro o', means my heart on the Law, joining nori, boarding a boat, with nori, the Buddha's Law. It also echoes omoi mo kakenu in the fourth line of the next poem, 640.
Final line, 'kakenu hi zo naki', means there is no day I do not set it, the particle zo answered by the attributive naki. The double negative shows the heart is always set upon it. Carry across, fisher's boat and boarding are associated words.
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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