Nani semu ni inochi tsugikemu wagimoko ni koinu saki ni mo shinamashi mono o

何せむに命継ぎけむ我妹子に
恋ひぬ前にも死なましものを

Roma-ji: Nani semu ni inochi tsugikemu wagimoko ni koinu saki ni mo shinamashi mono o
English Translation: Why did I go on
keeping my life to this day?
Before I began
loving you, my dearest wife,
I should have died, had I known
Meaning: For what did I keep my life going? I should have died before I ever came to love my dear wife.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2377

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing One's Feelings Directly"
For what has he kept on living until now? He should have died before falling in love with his beloved, the speaker laments. The feeling that he would not suffer so had he never known love is voiced in the violent words of wishing for death.
The headnote continues from the preceding poem, "Expressing One's Feelings Directly." The phrase "nani semu ni" is also used in the third line of the next poem; here it questions why the speaker has lived on, while there it questions why the speaker goes on loving. Its form of regret through a contrary-to-fact wish also echoes poem 2372.
The author is unknown; according to the left note, the poem comes from the Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection. That collection is thought to contain both Hitomaro's own poems and poems by others that he recorded. Kakinomoto no Hitomaro was a court poet active in the reigns of Empress Jito and Emperor Monmu, and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "nani semu ni": "for what purpose?" It expresses a question that answers to "kemu" in the second line.
Second line, "inochi tsugikemu": "did I keep my life going?" The past conjectural auxiliary "kemu" closes in its attributive form in answer to the question, and the poem pauses here after the second line.
Third line, "wagimoko ni": "wagimoko" is a term of endearment a man uses for his wife or beloved. The particle "ni" marks the object of love.
Fourth line, "koinu saki ni mo": "even before I loved her." "Koinu" is "kou" with the attributive negative "zu," and "saki" means "before."
Fifth line, "shinamashi mono o": "I should have died." The contrary-to-fact auxiliary "mashi" with "mono o" closes the poem with regret over what cannot be.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
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