Waga yo o ba kyō ka asu ka to matsu kai no namida no taki to izure takaken - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

わが世をば今日か明日かと待つかひの
涙の滝といづれ高けん

Roma-ji: Waga yo o ba kyō ka asu ka to matsu kai no namida no taki to izure takaken
English Translation: For my day to come,
"today, tomorrow" waiting,
all to no avail—
the waterfall of my tears,
which of the two falls higher?
Meaning: Waiting today, tomorrow, for my time to come, and all in vain—which is higher, this waterfall or the falls of my tears?
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1651

Headnote: "When I went to see the Nunobiki Falls."
This is the first poem of a sequence on the Nunobiki Falls. Waiting from day to day for his time to come, the poet asks which is higher, this waterfall or the falls of tears he sheds in vain. According to the headnote, it was composed when he went to see the Nunobiki Falls.
The author, "Chūnagon Yukihira," is Ariwara no Yukihira. A son of Prince Abo and the elder brother of Narihira, he rose to Middle Counselor.
In Episode 87 of The Tales of Ise, it appears as the poem composed, on the visit to the Nunobiki Falls, by the man's elder brother, a commander of the Palace Guards. It comes from the same episode as 1591 in this book.
The Nunobiki Falls are in Settsu Province, on the upper reaches of the Ikuta River in present-day Chūō Ward, Kobe. They take their name from their look of a length of white cloth drawn out.

The first line, "waga yo o ba," means "my time of prospering in the world."
The second line, "kyō ka asu ka to," means "today, or tomorrow," showing impatient waiting.
The third line, "matsu kai no," means "of the worth of waiting," leading to tears shed in vain.
The fourth line, "namida no taki to," means "and the falls of my tears." It sets the Nunobiki Falls before his eyes beside his own tears.
The last line, "izure takaken," means "which is higher?" Asking with the conjectural "ken," it pits the abundance of tears shed in misfortune against the height of the falls. From the river flows of the preceding sequence, it moves to falling water.
Author: Ariwara no Yukihira
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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