Ureshiku wa wasururu koto mo arinamashi tsuraki zo nagaki katami narikeru - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

うれしくは忘るることもありなまし
つらきぞ長きかたみなりける

Roma-ji: Ureshiku wa wasururu koto mo arinamashi tsuraki zo nagaki katami narikeru
English Translation: Were it joy I felt,
perhaps I might forget it
as the days go by;
it is pain that lingers long,
the keepsake that remains
Meaning: If it were joy, I might one day forget it; it is pain that remains as the long-lasting keepsake.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Love Poems V 1403

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the third poem of the sequence lamenting one's wretched lot. Joy might be forgotten, but pain, the speaker says, is the keepsake that remains long. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Fukayabu," was a poet of the early Heian period of the Kiyohara clan. He served as Senior Secretary of the Palace Storehouse Bureau and was the great-grandfather of Sei Shōnagon.

The first line, "ureshiku wa," means "if it were joyful."
The second line, "wasururu koto mo," means "forgetting, too."
In the third line, "arinamashi," "mashi" is counterfactual: "there might be." The poem breaks after the third line.
The fourth line, "tsuraki zo nagaki," means "it is pain that lasts long." "Joyful" and "painful," "forget" and "long," are set against each other.
The last line, "katami narikeru," closes the kakari-musubi of "zo" with the attributive "keru." By the logic that joy is soon forgotten while pain remains, it says paradoxically that pain is love's keepsake. The word "katami" links to "au koto no katami" in the next poem.
Author: Kiyohara no Fukayabu
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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