Ikani shite ikani kono yo ni arifeba ka shibashi mo mono o omowazarubeki - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

いかにしていかにこの世にあり経ばか
しばしも物を思はざるべき

Roma-ji: Ikani shite ikani kono yo ni arifeba ka shibashi mo mono o omowazarubeki
English Translation: By what means, and how,
should I live on in this world,
that even a while,
even for a moment's space,
I might be free of brooding?
Meaning: How, in what way, should I live on in this world, that even for a little while I could be free of brooding?
Commentary: Book Fifteen Love Poems V 1402

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the second poem of the sequence lamenting one's wretched lot. The speaker laments, asking how she must live in this world to be free of brooding even for a little while. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Izumi Shikibu," was a daughter of Ōe no Masamune, Governor of Echizen. She took this name from her marriage to Tachibana no Michisada, Governor of Izumi, and later served Jōtōmon'in Shōshi.

The first line, "ikani shite," means "by what means."
The second line, "ikani kono yo ni," repeats "ikani" from the first line, strengthening a question that finds no answer. Like "kono yo nagara no" of the preceding poem, it uses the words "this world."
The third line, "arifeba ka," means "if I lived on," and the particle "ka" expresses a question.
The fourth line, "shibashi mo mono o," means "even for a moment, brooding."
The last line, "omowazarubeki," closes the kakari-musubi of "ka" with the attributive "beki": "could I be free of it?" Where the preceding poem accepted present suffering as retribution, this one laments that as long as one lives in this world, there is no escape from brooding.
Author: Izumi Shikibu
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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