Nete mo miyu nede mo mie keri ōkata wa utsusemi no yo zo yume ni wa arikeru - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

寝ても見ゆ寝でも見えけり大方は
空蝉の世ぞ夢にはありける

Roma-ji: Nete mo miyu nede mo mie keri ōkata wa utsusemi no yo zo yume ni wa arikeru
English Translation: I see him sleeping,
and I see him though I wake;
it seems, after all,
this fleeting world of cast-off shells
is the dream in which we dwell.
Meaning: I see him when I sleep, and I see him even when awake. So, after all, it is this fleeting world itself that is the dream.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Poems of Lament 833

Headnote: "Composed and sent to his house when Fujiwara no Toshiyuki passed away"
This poem was composed when Fujiwara no Toshiyuki died and sent to his household. Because the poet sees the departed whether asleep or awake, he can no longer tell dream from waking, and realizes that this world itself is a dream. The depth of his feeling for the dead is expressed through this reversal of dream and reality.
From here to 835 in this book, poems on the theme of dream and reality follow one another.
The author, Ki no Tomonori, was a cousin of Ki no Tsurayuki and one of the compilers of the Kokinshū, though he died before it was completed. He is one of the Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry.

The first line, "asleep I see him," means the poet sees the departed even in sleep. The poem breaks after the first line.
The second line, "awake I see him too," uses the negative de to mean "even without sleeping," pairing with the first line to say he appears whether the poet sleeps or not. Keri expresses realization.
The third line, "after all," means "in short" or "on the whole."
The fourth line, "this fleeting world," is emphasized by the particle zo.
The last line, "is the dream," closes in the attributive keru after zo. The idea of reversing dream and reality is carried on in the next two poems.
Author: Ki no Tomonori
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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