#019 難波潟

難波潟
みじかき芦の
ふしのまも
あはでこの世を
過ぐしてよとや

Naniwa gata mijikaki ashi no fushi no ma mo awade kono yo o sugushite yo to ya

Lady Ise

at Nawina Bay a segment of this bullrush is about as short as the time we've spent alone, and there is no more! n'est ce pas? (trans. Köy Deli)

Naniwa marsh short as segments on reeds our brief passage without meeting in this life is that what you want?  (trans. Jane Reichhold)

Parsing 

Naniwagata
Naniwa | -lagoon
mijikaki ashi no
short | reed | of
fushi no ma mo
nodes | space/time | even (as little as . . .)
awade kono yo o
without meeting | this | life | !
sugushite yo to ya
pass through | want | ! | quotative particle | ?

Crib

Are you saying you do not want us to meet anymore as we pass through this life? not even for as brief a space/time as a segment of reed from Naniwa Bay!

Devices

Kaketoba -- 'ma' is used here as a pivot refering to the short space/segment of bamboo reed and brief amount of time.

Naniwa	難波	Place name
-gata	潟	lagoon, marsh
Naniwagata	難波潟	Naniwa Bay
mijikaki	みじかき	short, brief (space/time)
ashi	芦	reed; bullrush
no	の	genitive
fushi	ふし	knot (in wood); node (of a bamboo shoot)
ma	ま	space; room; time; pause	kaketoba
mo	も	emotive particle; even (as little as... as much as)
awade	あはで	without meeting, a tryst, a date,  rendezvous,	neg. form of ‘au’ 逢
kono	この	this
yo	世	world, generation, age, society
o	を	case particle, direct object
sugushite	過ぐ	pass through
-shite	して
yo	よ	! exclamatory particle
to	と	“...” quotative particle
ya	や	? interrogative particle
yo to ya	よとや	that’s what you’re saying! is it not? n’est ce pas? ne le dira-t-on pas? Is that it?