Uki yo ni wa kado saseri tomo mienaku ni nado ka waga mi no idegate ni suru - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

憂き世には門させりとも見えなくに
などかわが身の出でがてにする

Roma-ji: Uki yo ni wa kado saseri tomo mienaku ni nado ka waga mi no idegate ni suru
English Translation: This bitter world, it
seems, has not shut fast its gate
against my leaving;
why then is it that I find
myself unable to depart?
Meaning: It does not seem that this bitter world has shut its gate on me; why then do I find it so hard to leave?
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems II 964

Headnote: "Composed when I had been removed from office"
Composed when the poet had been removed from office, the poem asks why, though the gate of this bitter world does not seem to be locked, he cannot bring himself to leave it, that is, to take religious vows. He laments his inability to give up the world.
Following the previous poem, 963, another poem by one removed from office appears, and the next poem, 965, carries the same headnote.
The author, "Taira Sadafun" as written partly in kana, is Taira no Sadafun, of the Kanmu Heishi line and son of Taira no Yoshikaze. Known as Heichū, he is regarded as the hero of the Tale of Heichū.

The first line, "this bitter world," names the painful world.
The second line, "has not shut fast its gate," uses sase, the perfective form of sasu, "to shut," with the continuative ri.
The third line, "it seems ... not," uses nakuni in a concessive sense: "though it does not appear so."
The fourth line, "why then is it that I," uses the interrogative ka, answered by the attributive suru at the end.
The last line, "find myself unable to depart," uses gate ni, "finding it hard to."
Author: Taira no Sadabumi
Source: Kokin Wakashu
Prev Poem: Amabiko no otozureji to zo ima wa omou ware ka hito ka to mi o tadoru yo ni
Next Poem: Ari hatenu inochi matsu ma no hodo bakari uki koto shigeku omowazu mogana