Nakanaka ni shinaba yasukemu izuru hi no iru waki shiranu ware shi kurushi mo

なかなかに死なば安けむ出づる日の
入る別知らぬ我れし苦しも

Roma-ji: Nakanaka ni shinaba yasukemu izuru hi no iru waki shiranu ware shi kurushi mo
English Translation: Better, after all,
to die and be at peace;
the rising sun,
when it sets I cannot tell,
and oh, the pain of it
Meaning: I would be better off dead and at peace; I can no longer tell the rising sun from the setting sun, and the pain is too much.
Commentary: Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts Directly 2940

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts Directly"
The poet sings of the pain of being so sunk in love, day and night, that sunrise and sunset can no longer be told apart, and laments that death would be easier. The great scale of the sun's course is used to express a mind that has lost its sense of time.
The poet is unknown. Book Twelve, titled the second part of "Love Poems Exchanged Old and New," gathers love poems by people whose names have not come down to us, arranged by category.

Line one, "nakanaka ni," means "rather, after all." Poem 2899 in this book opens with the same line.
Line two, "shinaba yasukemu," means "if I died I would be at ease," and the poem pauses here.
Line three, "izuru hi no," means "of the rising sun."
Line four, "iru waki shiranu," means "not knowing when it sets," describing one sunk in love without distinguishing day and night.
Line five, "ware shi kurushi mo," means "I am in pain," with "shi" emphatic.
Author: Unknown
Source: Manyoshu
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