Nani o shite mi no itazura ni oinuramu toshi no omowamu koto zo yasashiki - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

何をして身のいたづらに老いぬらむ
年の思はむことぞやさしき

Roma-ji: Nani o shite mi no itazura ni oinuramu toshi no omowamu koto zo yasashiki
English Translation: What have I done, then,
that my body, all in vain,
has grown old like this?
what the years must think of me—
that is what I feel ashamed of
Meaning: What have I been doing, that I have grown old to no purpose? When I think what the years themselves must think of me, I am ashamed.
Commentary: Book Nineteen Miscellaneous Forms 1063

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Having grown old without accomplishing anything, the poet imagines "the years" as a person watching, and feels ashamed before them. Treating the years as a person gives the poem its haikai quality.
The author is unknown and is recorded as "Anonymous."

First line, "Nani o shite," asks: what have I been doing?
Second line, "mi no itazura ni," means my body, in vain.
Third line, "oinuramu," combines perfective "nu" with causal "ramu": why have I grown old? The poem breaks here.
Fourth line, "toshi no omowamu," personifies the years: what they must think.
Fifth line, "koto zo yasashiki," uses "yasashi," ashamed or abashed, in the attributive form answering "zo."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kokin Wakashu
Prev Poem: Yo no naka wa ika ni kurushi to omouramu kokora no hito ni uramirarureba
Next Poem: Mi wa sutetsu kokoro o dani mo haburasaji tsui ni wa ikaga naru to shirubeku