Ukinagara hisashiku zo yo o suginikeru aware ya kakeshi Sumiyoshi no matsu - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

憂きながら久しくぞ世を過ぎにける
あはれやかけし住吉の松

Roma-ji: Ukinagara hisashiku zo yo o suginikeru aware ya kakeshi Sumiyoshi no matsu
English Translation: Wretched though it's been,
for long years I have passed
my life in this world;
was it you who pitied me,
O pine of Sumiyoshi?
Meaning: Wretched as it has been, I have lived long in this world; was it you who took pity on me, O pine of Sumiyoshi?
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1793

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the third of the poems on the pine. Wretched as life has been, he has lived long in the world; was it the pine of Sumiyoshi that took pity on him? He gives thanks, wondering whether his long life is a blessing of the god of Sumiyoshi, revered as a god of poetry.
The author, "Kōtaigōgū no Daibu Shunzei," is Fujiwara no Shunzei. A son of Fujiwara no Toshitada, he compiled the Senzai Wakashū. He was the father of Fujiwara no Teika.
Sumiyoshi is a place in Settsu Province, whose shrine was revered as the seat of a god of poetry. The pines before the shrine were sung of as symbols of long life.

The first line, "ukinagara," means "wretched though it is."
The second line, "hisashiku zo yo o," means "for a long time, this world." The particle "zo" reaches to the close of the third line.
The third line, "suginikeru," closes the kakari-musubi of "zo" with "keru," the attributive of "keri." He looks back on his long life, and the poem pauses here.
In the fourth line, "aware ya kakeshi," "ya" is a particle of question closed by the attributive "shi," meaning "did you take pity on me?"
The last line, "Sumiyoshi no matsu," is the pine of the Sumiyoshi Shrine and also stands for its god. Taking up the Suminoe pine of the preceding poem, where obscurity was lamented, this poem receives long life as the god's blessing.
Author: Fujiwara no Shunzei
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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