Sue no yo mo kono nasake nomi kawarazu to mishi yume naku wa yoso ni kikamashi - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

末の世もこの情けのみ変はらずと
見し夢なくはよそに聞かまし

Roma-ji: Sue no yo mo kono nasake nomi kawarazu to mishi yume naku wa yoso ni kikamashi
English Translation: Had I not seen the dream
that said, even in the world's last days,
this grace alone
remains unchanged, I would
have heard it as none of mine.
Meaning: Had I not seen the dream telling me that even in the latter days this grace of poetry alone does not change, I would have let the request pass as no concern of mine.
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1844

Headnote: "When Jakuren urged people to compose hundred-poem sequences and I declined and went on pilgrimage to Kumano, on the way I dreamed that the Superintendent Tankai told Third Rank Shunzei, 'Everything declines, but this way alone remains unchanged in the latter days of the world; he should still compose these poems.' Startled, I hurried to compose the poems and sent them, writing this at the end."
This is the third of the poems on past and present. Had he not seen the dream saying that even in the latter days the grace of poetry alone does not change, he would have let the request go by as none of his affair. According to the headnote, when Jakuren urged people to compose hundred-poem sequences, Saigyō declined and set out for Kumano; on the way he dreamed that the Kumano Superintendent Tankai told Fujiwara no Shunzei that though all things decline, the way of poetry alone does not change even in the latter days, so he should still compose; he hurriedly composed the poems, sent them, and wrote this at the end.
The author, "Saigyō Hōshi," is Saigyō. His lay name was Satō Norikiyo; he served Retired Emperor Toba as a guard of the Northern Quarters but took vows while young. He traveled the provinces composing poems, and his personal collection is the Sankashū.
Tankai was a monk who served as Kumano Superintendent, governing the three Kumano shrines.

The first line, "sue no yo mo," means "even in the latter days," suggesting the age of the Law's decline.
The second line, "kono nasake nomi," means "this grace alone." Taking up the "kindness" of the poem two before, it here means the grace of the way of poetry.
The third line, "kawarazu to," means "does not change," taking up the words heard in the dream.
The fourth line, "mishi yume naku wa," means "had I not seen the dream." "Naku wa" marks a supposition answering "mashi" in the last line.
In the last line, "yoso ni kikamashi," "mashi" is counterfactual. Telling how the dream's message turned him back to poetry, it shows his faith in a way of poetry that does not change even as the world declines.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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