classic waka stream

捨てやらぬ我が身ぞつらきさりともと
思ふ心に道をまかせて
Roma-ji

Suteyaranu waga mi zo tsuraki saritomo to omou kokoro ni michi o makasete

English Translation
That I cannot cast
the world away, this pains me so,
"Still, some day," I think,
and leave to that thinking heart
the path that I should walk.
Meaning
It pains me that I cannot bring myself to cast away the world, leaving the path of the Buddha to a heart that thinks, "Still, some day."
Commentary
Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1770

Headnote: "Composed on the feeling of personal grievance."
This is the sixth of the poems on a heart that loathes the world yet cannot cast it off. It pains him that, leaving the Buddhist path to a heart that thinks "some day, surely," he still cannot renounce the world. He reflects on a heart that keeps putting off taking vows. According to the headnote, it was composed on the feeling of personal grievance.
The author, "Middle Captain of the Left Kinhira," is Fujiwara no Kinhira. A son of Fujiwara no Kinyoshi, he served as Middle Captain of the Left.

The first line, "suteyaranu," means "unable to cast away completely." "Yaru" adds the sense of carrying through to the end.
The second line, "waga mi zo tsuraki," closes the kakari-musubi of "zo" with the attributive form of the adjective "tsuraki." Taking up the preceding poem's "I never had the heart to cast off the world," it states the pain of the self that cannot renounce, and the poem pauses here.
The third line, "saritomo to," means "still, some day." Poem 1773 of this book also begins with "saritomo to."
The fourth line, "omou kokoro ni," means "to the heart that thinks so."
The last line, "michi o makasete," means "leaving the Buddhist path to it." Through inversion it shows that the heart that keeps postponing is itself the reason he cannot renounce.
Author
Fujiwara no Kinhira
Source
Shin Kokin Wakashu
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