When I said, ‘That’s a pensive face you’ve got on there!’ to a courtier who was gazing at the surface of the water in the drainage channel by the palace, he replied:
戀せまほしき影や見ゆらむ
| koFisemaFosiki kage ya miyuramu |
One longing for love, Is that the face you see? |
I concluded:
八橋にあらぬ御溝のをちに居て
| yatuFasi ni aranu mikaFa no woti ni wite |
The Yatsuhashi Channel, this is not, yet On yonder side… |