Asamashi ya tsurugi no eda no tawamu made ko wa nani no mi no nareru naruramu - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

あさましや剣の枝のたわむまで
こは何のみのなれるなるらむ

Roma-ji: Asamashi ya tsurugi no eda no tawamu made ko wa nani no mi no nareru naruramu
English Translation: What a dreadful sight,
that the branches of the sword tree
should bend low so far,
what is this fruit, what body
has ripened on them like this
Meaning: How appalling! What sort of fruit is it that weighs down the branches of the sword tree so? What sort of body has come to this?
Commentary: Book Ten Miscellaneous Poems II 644

How appalling, the poet cries, that the branches of the sword tree should bend so low: what fruit could be growing on them? The poem is said to have been composed on seeing a painting of hell in which sinners were pierced on the branches of the sword tree; seeing the impaled sinners as fruit and joining mi, fruit, with mi, body, it expresses the terror of retribution for sin.
The author, Izumi Shikibu, was the daughter of Ōe no Masamune, Governor of Echizen; she married Tachibana no Michisada, Governor of Izumi, and bore Koshikibu no Naishi. She served the Retired Empress Jōtōmon'in, Shōshi. One of her poems appears in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.

First line, 'asamashi ya', means how appalling, the stem of asamashi with the interjectory ya; the poem breaks after the first line.
Second line, 'tsurugi no eda no', means the branches of the swords, pointing to the tree in hell whose branches and leaves are blades.
Third line, 'tawamu made', means so far as to bend.
Fourth line, 'ko wa nani no mi no', means what fruit is this, joining mi, the fruit of a tree, with mi, the body of a sinner.
Final line, 'nareru naruramu', means could it be that has grown, the attributive of the continuative ri followed by the copula nari and the present conjectural ramu. Naru joins the bearing of fruit with a body coming to such a state. Branch, bending, fruit and bearing are associated words.
Author: Izumi Shikibu
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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