Mi no usa o omoishirazu wa ikaga semu itoinagara mo nao sugusu kana - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

身の憂さを思ひ知らずはいかがせむ
厭ひながらもなほ過ぐすかな

Roma-ji: Mi no usa o omoishirazu wa ikaga semu itoinagara mo nao sugusu kana
English Translation: Had I not come to know
the sorrow of my own life,
there'd be no help for it;
yet, loathing the world, I still
pass my days on here in it.
Meaning: If I did not know the sorrow of my own life, there would be nothing to be done; yet knowing it, loathing the world, I still go on living in it.
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1753

Headnote: "Composed on the feeling of personal grievance."
This is the seventh of the poems on turning from the world. If he did not know his own sorrow there would be no help for it, but knowing it, and loathing the world, he still lives on. He laments himself, who has the heart to loathe the world yet cannot act on it. According to the headnote, it was composed on the feeling of personal grievance.
The author, "Jakuren Hōshi," is Jakuren. No author is named in the original; the attribution continues from the preceding poem. His lay name was Fujiwara no Sadanaga; a nephew of Fujiwara no Shunzei, he was adopted as his son. After taking vows he remained active as a poet and was appointed a compiler of the Shin Kokinshū, but died before its completion.

The first line, "mi no usa o," means "the sorrow of my own life."
The second line, "omoishirazu wa," means "if I did not come to know." "Zu wa" marks a negative supposition.
The third line, "ikaga semu," means "there would be nothing to do." He says there would be no help for it if he did not know, and the poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "itoinagara mo," means "though loathing the world." Against "even having turned away" in the preceding poem, this poem speaks of one who loathes the world yet cannot turn away.
In the last line, "nao sugusu kana," "kana" is exclamatory. The poem closes with a sigh at himself, passing his days while knowing their sorrow.
Author: Jakuren
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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