Oshimu kara koishiki mono o shirakumo no tachinamu nochi wa nani kokochi semu - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

惜しむから恋しきものを白雲の
たちなむ後はなに心地せむ

Roma-ji: Oshimu kara koishiki mono o shirakumo no tachinamu nochi wa nani kokochi semu
English Translation: Even as I grieve,
I already long for you;
once like the white clouds
you rise and go away,
what will my heart become?
Meaning: Even now, as I grieve to let you go, I already long for you. Once you rise and depart like the white clouds, what will become of my heart?
Commentary: Book Eight Parting Poems 371

Headnote: "Composed at a farewell banquet for someone"
Since merely grieving over someone still before his eyes already makes him long for them, the poet wonders how much deeper his feelings will be once they have gone, sensing the loneliness to come before the parting itself. According to the headnote, it was composed at a banquet held to see a traveler off.
The author, "Ki no Tsurayuki," was one of the compilers of the Kokinshū and wrote its kana preface; later, as Governor of Tosa, he wrote the Tosa Diary.

The first line, "even as I grieve," uses kara in the sense of "merely by," showing that the very act of grieving gives rise to longing.
The second line, "I already long for you," continues with the concessive particle mono o: even now I long for you, and yet.
The third line, "like the white clouds," leads into tatsu, "to rise," and evokes the distant sky toward which the traveler goes. In this book "white clouds" also appear in poems 379 and 380, recurring as an image of separation.
The fourth line, "once you rise and go," is a pivot word joining the rising of clouds with setting out on a journey. Namu combines the perfective auxiliary nu with the conjectural mu, imagining the time after the traveler will have gone.
The last line, "what will my heart become?" asks with nani and the conjectural mu what feelings will come, ending in a lament that has no answer.
Author: Ki no Tsurayuki
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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