Michi no be no kuchiki no yanagi haru kureba aware mukashi to shinobare zo suru - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

道の辺の朽ち木の柳春来れば
あはれ昔としのばれぞする

Roma-ji: Michi no be no kuchiki no yanagi haru kureba aware mukashi to shinobare zo suru
English Translation: By the roadside there,
the rotting willow, when once
the spring comes again,
makes me cry, 'Ah, days of old!'—
so I find my heart yearning.
Meaning: When spring comes, even the old, rotting willow by the roadside makes me sigh, "Ah, the days of old," and I find myself yearning for the past.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1449

Headnote: "On the willow."
This is the first poem of the sequence recalling springs of the past. Seeing a willow by the roadside that has become a rotting tree, the poet says that when spring comes he finds himself sighing, "Ah, the days of old." The headnote gives only the topic and records nothing of the circumstances of composition.
The author, "Sugawara, Posthumous Chancellor," is Sugawara no Michizane. The son of Sugawara no Koreyoshi, he was highly favored under Emperors Uda and Daigo and rose to Minister of the Right, but he was demoted to Provisional Governor-General of Dazaifu and died there. Because he was later posthumously granted the office of Chancellor, he is called the Posthumous Chancellor.

The first line, "michi no be no," means "by the roadside." It presents a willow standing beside a road where people come and go.
The second line, "kuchiki no yanagi," refers to a willow grown old and rotting. The form of something past its prime awakens thoughts of the past.
The third line, "haru kureba," is the same line as the first line of 1440 in this book. Here the coming of spring becomes not a joy but an occasion for recalling the past.
In the fourth line, "aware mukashi to," "aware" is an interjection meaning "ah." It directly voices the sigh of recalling the flourishing days of old.
The last line, "shinobare zo suru," adds the particle "zo" to "re," the continuative form of the spontaneous auxiliary "ru," closing the kakari-musubi with the attributive form "suru." It expresses the past arising unbidden in the mind, and links the theme to the next poem, which also recalls springs of the past.
Author: Sugawara no Michizane
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
Prev Poem: Murasaki no kumo ni mo arade harugasumi tanabiku yama no kai wa nani zo mo
Next Poem: Mukashi mishi haru wa mukashi no haru nagara waga mi hitotsu no arazu mo aru kana