Nani to naku sasuga ni oshiki inochi kana arieba hito ya omoishiru tote - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

何となくさすがに惜しき命かな
あり経ば人や思ひ知るとて

Roma-ji: Nani to naku sasuga ni oshiki inochi kana arieba hito ya omoishiru tote
English Translation: For no reason at all,
and yet it is dear to me,
this life of mine:
if I live on, she may come
to understand my heart.
Meaning: For no particular reason, and yet after all, how dear this life is to me, thinking that if I live on, she may come to understand how I feel.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 1147

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the fifth poem of the sequence in which one-sided love comes to dwell on one's own self and life. Thinking that if he lives on the beloved may come to understand, the speaker finds his life dear after all. The headnote continues from the preceding poem and gives no topic.
The author is Saigyō; "Hōshi" in the original name means a monk. His lay name was Satō Norikiyo; he served Retired Emperor Toba as a guard of the north quarters but took vows at twenty-three and traveled the provinces composing poems.

The first line, "nani to naku," means "for no particular reason."
The second line, "sasuga ni oshiki," means "and yet dear after all." Taking up the preceding poem's lament over trading life for love, it holds that life is precious all the same.
The third line, "inochi kana," means "how dear this life," the poem breaking after the third line on the exclamatory "kana." After "inochi o zo omou" in poem 1145 of this book, another poem thinks of life.
The fourth line, "arieba hito ya," means "if I live on, may she," the particle "ya" marking a question.
The last line, "omoishiru tote," means "thinking she may come to understand my heart," revealing through inversion why life is dear. The next poem takes up this "omoishiru" in its first line and leads on to the final poem of the book.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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