Shizuka naru akatsuki goto ni miwataseba mada fukaki yo no yume zo kanashiki - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

静かなる暁ごとに見わたせば
まだ深き夜の夢ぞ悲しき

Roma-ji: Shizuka naru akatsuki goto ni miwataseba mada fukaki yo no yume zo kanashiki
English Translation: At every quiet
coming of the dawn, I gaze
out across the world—
still in the deep night they dream,
and how sorrowful the dream.
Meaning: At each quiet dawn, as I look out over the world, how sad it is that they are still dreaming in the depths of night.
Commentary: Book Twenty Buddhist Poems 1969

Headnote: "From a hundred-poem sequence, on the meaning of 'Every day at dawn he enters into meditation.'"
This is the fifth poem in the sequence of poems by various poets on scriptural phrases and Buddhist observances. Looking out at each quiet dawn, one grieves that people are still lost in the dreams of deep night. According to the headnote, it is one of her hundred-poem sequence, composed on the meaning of "Every day at dawn he enters into meditation."
Taking the standpoint of the Bodhisattva Jizō, who enters meditation each morning to watch over living beings, she voices a compassionate grief for those who do not wake from the dream of delusion.
The author, "Shikishi Naishinnō," was a daughter of Emperor Go-Shirakawa who served as Kamo Priestess. She studied waka under Fujiwara no Shunzei.
"Every day at dawn he enters into meditation" is a phrase taught of the Bodhisattva Jizō, telling how he enters meditation early each morning to watch over the sufferings of living beings and save them.

The first line, "shizuka naru," shows the stillness of dawn when everyone is asleep.
The second line, "akatsuki goto ni," means "at every dawn," transposing the scripture's "every day at dawn." The arrangement links it by the same word to the preceding poem's last line, "akatsuki no koe."
The third line, "miwataseba," is gazing out over the whole world in meditation, showing the bodhisattva's viewpoint.
The fourth line, "mada fukaki yo no," shows people still in a deep night of delusion even as day breaks. The contrast of the quiet dawn and the depth of night is telling.
The last line, "yume zo kanashiki," closes the kakari-musubi of "zo" with the attributive "kanashiki." "Dream" symbolizes the world of delusion, expressing sorrow for those who do not wake.
Author: Princess Shokushi
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
Prev Poem: Inishie no onoe no kane ni nitaru kana kishi utsu nami no akatsuki no koe
Next Poem: Au koto o izuku ni tote ka chigirubeki ukimi no yukan kata o shiraneba