Hitorine no koyoi mo akenu tare to shimo tanomaba koso wa konu mo uramime - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

ひとり寝の今宵も明けぬ誰としも
頼まばこそは来ぬも恨みめ

Roma-ji: Hitorine no koyoi mo akenu tare to shimo tanomaba koso wa konu mo uramime
English Translation: Sleeping all alone,
this night too has come to dawn;
if I trusted one,
some certain man, then I might
resent it that he did not come.
Meaning: This night too has dawned while I slept alone. If I were relying on someone in particular, I might resent that he did not come—but there is no one.
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1730

Headnote: "Composed on the feelings of a courtesan."
A poem composed in the voice of a courtesan. This night too has dawned as she slept alone; if she relied on someone in particular she might resent that he did not come, but she does not. According to the headnote, it was composed on the topic of a courtesan's feelings, and it depicts the loneliness and resignation of one with no particular companion.
The author, "Fujiwara no Tametada Ason," was the son of Fujiwara no Tomonobu. He served as Governor of Tango and other posts and held hundred-poem sequences at his house. He was the father of the three brothers Jakunen, Jakuchō, and Jakuzen.

The first line, "hitorine no," is a night with no one to share one's bed.
In the second line, "koyoi mo akenu," "nu" is perfective. "Mo" carries the grief of repetition, "tonight again," and the poem pauses here.
The third line, "tare to shimo," means "someone in particular." "Shimo" is emphatic, stressing a particular person.
The fourth line, "tanomaba koso wa," means "if I were relying on him." The particle "koso" answers the realis "uramime" in the last line.
The last line, "konu mo uramime," closes the kakari-musubi of "koso" with "me," the realis form of the conjectural "mu." The paradox that she cannot even resent anyone, having no one to rely on, brings out the courtesan's rootlessness.
Author: Fujiwara no Tametada
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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