E zo shiranu ima kokoromiyo inochi araba ware ya wasururu hito ya towanu to - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

えぞ知らぬ今試みよ命あらば
我や忘るる人や訪はぬと

Roma-ji: E zo shiranu ima kokoromiyo inochi araba ware ya wasururu hito ya towanu to
English Translation: I cannot tell at all—
so try it now and see,
if we should live,
whether I will forget,
or you will fail to call.
Meaning: I cannot tell how it will be. Try it and see, if we both live: will I be the one to forget, or will you be the one who stops coming?
Commentary: Book Eight Parting Poems 377

Headnote: "Composed and handed out by a woman when Ki no Munesada, leaving for the east, had lodged at a house and came to take his leave as he set out at dawn"
When Ki no Munesada, heading for the eastern provinces, came to take his leave at dawn from the house where he had lodged, a woman of the house composed this poem and handed it to him. Daring him to test whether it would be she or he whose heart changed, if they lived, she turns the sorrow of parting into a spirited challenge.
The author is listed as "anonymous," and the headnote identifies her as a woman of the house where he lodged.

The first line, "I cannot tell at all," adds the particle zo to the construction e ... nu expressing impossibility, stating firmly that she cannot know. The binding of zo ends in the attributive shiranu, and the poem breaks after this first line.
The second line, "so try it now," presses the other with an imperative, and here too the poem breaks.
The third line, "if we should live," sets a hypothesis, showing that what is to come depends on being alive.
The fourth line, "whether I will forget," uses the binding of ya with the attributive wasururu to ask whether she will be the one to forget.
The last line, "or you will fail to call," forms a parallel with the fourth line, contrasting "I" with "you" and forgetting with visiting. With the quotative to, it returns in inverted order to "try it" in the second line.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kokin Wakashu
Prev Poem: Asanake ni mibeki kimi to shi tanomaneba omoi tachinuru kusamakura nari
Next Poem: Kumoi ni mo kayou kokoro no okureneba wakaru to hito ni miyu bakari nari