Au koto o izuku ni tote ka chigirubeki ukimi no yukan kata o shiraneba - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

逢ふことをいづくにとてか契るべき
憂き身の行かん方を知らねば

Roma-ji: Au koto o izuku ni tote ka chigirubeki ukimi no yukan kata o shiraneba
English Translation: Our meeting again—
where, then, could we promise it,
how could we pledge it,
when where this sad self will go
I do not even know?
Meaning: How could I pledge where we shall meet again, when I do not even know where this sorrowful self will go?
Commentary: Book Twenty Buddhist Poems 1970

Headnote: "A poem from the Hosshin Wakashū, on 'the various evil paths' from the Universal Gate chapter."
This is the sixth poem in the sequence of poems by various poets on scriptural phrases and Buddhist observances. How could I promise where we will meet again, when I do not even know where this sorrowful self will go after death? According to the headnote, it is a poem from the Hosshin Wakashū, composed on the meaning of "the various evil paths" from the Universal Gate chapter of the Lotus Sutra.
The anxiety of one who cannot know into which evil path she may fall after death is voiced as the lament of a lover unable to promise a reunion, expressing a longing for Kannon's salvation.
The author, "Senshi Naishinnō," was a daughter of Emperor Murakami who served as Kamo Priestess through the reigns of five emperors and was called the Great Priestess.
The Hosshin Wakashū is a collection of Buddhist poems composed by Princess Senshi on phrases from the scriptures. The Universal Gate chapter teaches that Kannon gradually extinguishes the sufferings of the various evil paths, such as hell, hungry ghosts, and animals.

The first line, "au koto o," means "meeting again," using the language of love poetry.
The second line, "izuku ni tote ka," is a rhetorical question with the particle "ka": where?
The third line, "chigirubeki," closes the kakari-musubi of "ka" with the attributive "beki": could I promise? No, I cannot. The poem breaks after it.
The fourth line, "ukimi no yukan," means "where this sorrowful self will go" after death, showing anxiety about the scripture's "evil paths."
The last line, "kata o shiraneba," means "since I do not know the direction," giving by inversion the reason for the upper half. Following Princess Shikishi's grief for those lost in delusion in the preceding poem, this poem voices the anxiety of one who is herself lost. The arrangement sets side by side poems by two princesses who served as Kamo Priestess.
Author: Princess Senshi
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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