Kururu ma mo matsubeki yo ka wa Adashino no sueba no tsuyu ni arashi tatsu nari - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

暮るる間も待つべき世かはあだし野の
末葉の露に嵐立つなり

Roma-ji: Kururu ma mo matsubeki yo ka wa Adashino no sueba no tsuyu ni arashi tatsu nari
English Translation: Is this a world where
one can wait even till dusk?
At Adashino,
on the dew at the leaves' tips
the storm wind, it seems, is rising.
Meaning: Is this a world in which one can wait even until dusk? At Adashino a storm seems to be rising over the dew on the tips of the leaves.
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1847

Headnote: "From a hundred-poem sequence."
This is the second of the poems on impermanence. This is not a world where one can wait even until dusk; at Adashino a storm is rising over the dew on the leaf tips. In the storm scattering the dew at Adashino, a place of burial, she shows how life hangs by a moment. According to the headnote, it comes from a hundred-poem sequence.
The author, "Princess Shikishi," was a daughter of Emperor Go-Shirakawa who served as Kamo Priestess. She later took vows.
Adashino is a place in Yamashiro Province, deep in Saga in the capital, long known as a burial ground and a poetic place symbolizing impermanence.

The first line, "kururu ma mo," means "even until the day grows dark," suggesting that morning dew does not last till evening.
In the second line, "matsubeki yo ka wa," "ka wa" is rhetorical, meaning "is it a world where one can wait? No." The poem pauses here.
The third line, "Adashino no," is the poetic place of burial. "Adashi" echoes "adashi," fleeting.
The fourth line, "sueba no tsuyu ni," means "on the dew at the leaf tips." Following the vanishing clouds of the preceding poem, it sets down easily vanishing dew.
In the last line, "arashi tatsu nari," "nari" is an auxiliary of inference from sound. The storm is heard, and the dew is about to scatter, conveying how precarious a moment's life is.
Author: Princess Shokushi
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
Prev Poem: Yo no naka o omoitsuranete nagamureba munashiki sora ni kiyuru shirakumo
Next Poem: Tsu no kuni no nagaraubeku mo aranu kana mijikaki ashi no yo ni koso arikere