Yoso nagara omoishi yori mo natsu no yo no mihatenu yume zo hakanakari keru - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

よそながら思ひしよりも夏の夜の
見果てぬ夢ぞはかなかりける

Roma-ji: Yoso nagara omoishi yori mo natsu no yo no mihatenu yume zo hakanakari keru
English Translation: More than when I thought
of you from far away, still
on a summer night
the dream I never finish seeing
is more fleeting, so I find
Meaning: More fleeting than the days when I longed for you from afar is the dream of a summer night that ends before I can finish it.
Commentary: Book Four Summer Poems 171

Headnote: "Between two who knew each other, both had feelings, yet because there was reason for discretion they could not meet."
More fleeting than the time when he loved her from afar is the dream of a short summer night that ends before it is done. Beyond the pain of a love that cannot meet, he laments that on such a short night they cannot meet fully even in dreams.
According to the headnote, the two knew each other and both had feelings, yet there was reason to fear others' eyes and they could not meet.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Yoso nagara," means "while apart," showing love felt from a distance without meeting.
The second line, "omoishi yori mo," means "more than when I longed," with "shi" as the attributive form of the past auxiliary "ki." Like "yume yori mo" in the preceding poem, 170, it sets up a comparison with "yori mo."
The third line, "natsu no yo no," is the same line as in the preceding poem, 170, presenting the short summer night.
The fourth line, "mihatenu yume zo," means "the dream not seen to its end," showing that on so short a night they cannot meet fully even in a dream. "Zo" is an emphatic particle.
The last line, "hakanakari keru," means "was fleeting," with the attributive "keru" completing the kakarimusubi pattern with "zo" in the fourth line. The preceding poem sings of a parting more fleeting than a dream, this one of the fleetingness of the dream itself, and the two form a pair.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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