Kazukazu ni ware o wasurenu mono naraba yama no kasumi o aware to wa miyo - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

数々に我を忘れぬものならば
山の霞をあはれとは見よ

Roma-ji: Kazukazu ni ware o wasurenu mono naraba yama no kasumi o aware to wa miyo
English Translation: If with all your heart
you will not forget me,
then, when you see
the haze upon the mountains,
look on it with tenderness.
Meaning: If you truly will not forget me, then look upon the haze over the mountains with tender feeling.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Poems of Lament 857

Headnote: "The Prince of the Ministry of Ceremonial had been visiting the Fifth Princess of Kan'in, but before long the princess passed away. A letter was found tied to the cord of the curtain of the dais where she had lived; when he took it and looked, this poem was written there in her own hand"
The Prince of the Ministry of Ceremonial had been visiting the Fifth Princess of Kan'in, but she died before long. A letter was found tied to the cord of the curtain of her dais, and in it, in her own hand, was this poem. Sensing her death, the princess left word to her husband: if he would not forget her, he should look with tender feeling on the haze over the mountains, which recalls the smoke of cremation.
The Prince of Ceremonial is thought to be either Prince Sadayasu, son of Emperor Seiwa, or Prince Atsuyoshi, son of Emperor Uda.
The author was a princess called the Fifth Princess of Kan'in; there is no settled view of who she was. One theory makes her a daughter of Emperor Kōkō.

The first line, "with all your heart," means sincerely and earnestly.
The second line, "not forgetting me," means that he will not forget her.
The third line, "if it be so," is a supposition.
The fourth line, "the haze of the mountains," suggests the smoke of cremation trailing over the hills as haze. Like the funeral smoke of 831 in this book and the white clouds of the preceding poem, it overlays the smoke of the dead with things of the sky.
The last line, "look on it with feeling," uses the imperative miyo, asking her husband to see it as something moving and dear.
Author: The Fifth Princess of Kan'in
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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