Yo no naka no ukeku ni akinu okuyama no konoha ni fureru yuki ya kenamashi - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

世の中の憂けくに飽きぬ奥山の
木の葉に降れる雪や消なまし

Roma-ji: Yo no naka no ukeku ni akinu okuyama no konoha ni fureru yuki ya kenamashi
English Translation: Of the world's sorrows
I have grown weary at last;
like the snow that fell
on the leaves in the deep hills,
shall I simply melt away?
Meaning: I am weary of the sorrows of this world. Shall I simply vanish, like the snow fallen on the leaves deep in the mountains?
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems II 954

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Utterly weary of the world's pain, the poet wonders whether to vanish like snow melting from the leaves of the deep mountains. Identifying with the fleeting snow, the feeling goes beyond hiding in the mountains to a wish to disappear from this world altogether.
Coming at the end of the sequence of poems longing to hide in the mountains, it marks the deepest point of grief.
The author is recorded as anonymous, and the name has not come down to us.

The first line, "of the world's sorrows," names the theme.
The second line, "I have grown weary at last," uses ukeku, a nominalized form of ushi, "painful." The poem breaks after this line.
The third line, "in the deep hills," refers to mountains far from any village.
The fourth line, "on the leaves," uses ru, the attributive form of the continuative ri: "the snow that has fallen."
The last line, "shall I simply melt away?", uses ke, the irrealis of the old verb ku, "to vanish," with na (perfective) and mashi, expressing hesitant intention; ya is interrogative.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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