Nagaraeba mata kono goro ya shinobaremu ushi to mishi yo zo ima wa koishiki - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

長らへばまたこの頃や忍ばれむ
憂しと見し世ぞ今は恋しき

Roma-ji: Nagaraeba mata kono goro ya shinobaremu ushi to mishi yo zo ima wa koishiki
English Translation: Should I live on long,
will these present days as well
be dear to me then?
The world I once thought so bitter
is what I long for now.
Meaning: If I live on, will I come to long for these days too? For the world I once thought so bitter is what I long for now.
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1843

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the second of the poems on past and present. If he lives on, will these painful days too be remembered fondly? For the world he once thought bitter is now dear to him. Applying to his present suffering the way the past grows dear with time, he finds consolation. It is also included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
The author, "Kiyosuke Ason," is Fujiwara no Kiyosuke. A son of Fujiwara no Akisuke, he was versed in poetics and wrote treatises such as the Fukurozōshi.

The first line, "nagaraeba," means "if I live on." Taking up "nagaraemauki" in the preceding poem, it supposes living on.
The second line, "mata kono goro ya," means "these present days too." "Ya" is a particle of question.
The third line, "shinobaremu," closes the kakari-musubi of "ya" with the attributive form of the conjectural "mu." It echoes "shinobarete" of the preceding poem, and the poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "ushi to mishi yo zo," means "the world I once found bitter." The particle "zo" reaches to the last line.
The last line, "ima wa koishiki," closes the kakari-musubi of "zo" with the attributive form of the adjective "koishiki." Reasoning from past experience that present pain will one day be dear, it receives the preceding poem's longing for the past.
Author: Fujiwara no Kiyosuke
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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