Nakanaka no monoomoi somete nenuru yo wa hakanaki yume mo e ya wa miekeru - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

なかなかの物思ひ初めて寝ぬる夜は
はかなき夢もえやは見えける

Roma-ji: Nakanaka no monoomoi somete nenuru yo wa hakanaki yume mo e ya wa miekeru
English Translation: Better not to have—
having begun to brood on love,
on nights when I sleep
could even a fleeting dream
have come to me? no, not one
Meaning: Having met you, I have only begun to brood on love the more; on the nights I lie down to sleep, could I see you even in a fleeting dream? Not once.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 1158

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the third poem of the sequence on the sorrows that follow a meeting. On nights when, having met, he has only begun to brood on love the more, he cannot see even a fleeting dream. The headnote continues "Topic unknown" from the preceding poem, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Sanekata Ason," is Fujiwara no Sanekata. A grandson of the Minister of the Left Fujiwara no Morotada and a son of the Chamberlain Fujiwara no Sadatoki, he went from Middle Captain of the Left Palace Guards to Governor of Mutsu and died in that province. He is one of the Later Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.

The first line, "nakanaka no," means "half-hearted" or "rather the worse for it." It shows that the meeting has instead become the seed of brooding.
The second line, "monoomoi somete," means "having begun to brood on love." Taking up "it was all to no avail" from the preceding poem, it moves on to the pain of love that deepens after the meeting.
The third line, "nenuru yo wa," means "on nights when I sleep," with the particle "wa" singling out the nights.
The fourth line, "hakanaki yume mo," uses the same words as "hakanaki yume ni" in the fourth line of the preceding poem. There, waking life was lesser than a dream; here, even that dream cannot be seen. The two poems are joined by the same words while the lament deepens a step further.
The last line, "e ya wa miekeru," means "could I have seen it? no." "E" expresses impossibility with a following negative or rhetorical form, and "ya wa" is rhetorical. The poem closes on the pain of lying sleepless with longing, denied even a meeting in dreams.
Author: Fujiwara no Sanekata
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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