Au koto wa kore ya kagiri no tabi naran kusa no makura mo shimogarenikeri - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

逢ふことはこれや限りのたびならん
草の枕も霜かれにけり

Roma-ji: Au koto wa kore ya kagiri no tabi naran kusa no makura mo shimogarenikeri
English Translation: Our meetings—will this
be the last of them, this time,
this journey we share?
even the pillow of grasses
has withered in the frost
Meaning: Will this journey be the last time we meet? Even the pillow of grasses we bound has withered in the frost.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 1209

Headnote: "When Left Commander Asateru, after long sending no word, happened to meet her at a lodging on a journey, and having no pillow they bound grasses into one."
This is the first poem of a sequence on a love whose visits have ceased. Will this journey be the last time they meet? Even the grass pillow has withered in the frost. According to the headnote, it was composed when Left Commander Fujiwara no Asateru, after long sending no word, met her at a lodging on a journey, and lacking a pillow they bound grasses into one.
The author, "Uma no Naishi," was a lady-in-waiting of the mid-Heian period. She is counted among the Later Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.
Left Commander Asateru in the headnote is Fujiwara no Asateru, a son of the Regent Fujiwara no Kanemichi.

The first line, "au koto wa," means "our meeting." Taking up sleeping alone in the preceding poem, it sings of a meeting after a long time.
The second line, "kore ya kagiri no," means "is this the last," with "ya" forming a kakari-musubi with "ran" in the third line.
In the third line, "tabi naran," "tabi" is a pivot word meaning both "journey" and "time." It shows the fear that this meeting on a journey may be their last chance to meet.
The fourth line, "kusa no makura mo," means "even the pillow of grasses." It takes directly into the poem the headnote's "bound grasses into one."
In the last line, "shimogarenikeri," "kare" is a pivot word meaning both "withered by frost" and "a person drawing away." The pillow of grass withered by frost is overlaid with the lover's heart drawing away, making the poem a fitting opening for the sequence on a love whose visits are few.
Author: Uma no Naishi
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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