Awanu yo no furu shirayuki to tsumorinaba ware sae tomo ni kenubeki mono o - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

逢はぬ夜のふる白雪と積もりなば
我さへともに消ぬべきものを

Roma-ji: Awanu yo no furu shirayuki to tsumorinaba ware sae tomo ni kenubeki mono o
English Translation: If the nights we do not meet
should pile up like falling snow,
white drift upon drift,
I too would surely vanish
melting away along with it
Meaning: If the nights without you were to pile up like falling white snow, I too would surely melt away and vanish along with it.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 621

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
If the nights without a meeting pile up like snow, the poet says, I too will vanish along with the snow. The accumulating nights are likened to falling snow, and the image of snow melting away is overlaid with a lover dying of love.
The author is recorded as anonymous, and the name has not come down to us. A left note says, "Someone says this is a poem by Kakinomoto no Hitomaro," so one tradition attributes it to Hitomaro.

The first line, "awanu yo no," uses nu, the attributive of the negative zu, to modify "nights."
The second line, "furu shirayuki to," uses furu as a pivot word for "fall" and "pass," overlaying passing nights with falling snow.
The third line, "tsumorinaba," posits a condition with the perfective nu and ba: "if they should pile up." "Pile up" and "vanish" are associated words of snow.
The fourth line, "ware sae tomo ni," means "not only the snow but even I," with sae marking addition.
The final line, "kenubeki mono o," means "though I would surely vanish," closing with the exclamatory mono o.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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