Mono omou to suguru tsukihi mo shiranu ma ni kotoshi wa kyō ni hatenu to ka kiku - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

もの思ふと過ぐる月日も知らぬ間に
今年は今日に果てぬとか聞く

Roma-ji: Mono omou to suguru tsukihi mo shiranu ma ni kotoshi wa kyō ni hatenu to ka kiku
English Translation: Brooding in longing,
I did not know the months and days
were slipping by,
and now I hear this year
comes to its end today
Meaning: While I have been lost in longing, unaware of the months and days slipping by, I hear that this year ends today.
Commentary: Book Eight Winter Poems 506

Headnote: "He had courted the Chief of the Imperial Wardrobe for years without being able to meet her, and sent this on the last day of the twelfth month of that year."
The poet says that while he has been lost in longing, unaware of the months and days slipping by, he hears that this year ends today. It laments a whole year gone by while he agonized over a woman he could not meet.
According to the headnote, he had courted the Chief of the Imperial Wardrobe for many years but could not meet her, and sent this on the last day of the twelfth month of that year. On the final day of the year he tells her of his grief at a year passed in vain. It is the last poem of the book, closing the winter poems with the year's end. Where the opening poem, 443, sang of the first showers at the start of winter, this final poem sings of the year's last day, so that the beginning and end of the book answer each other. 358 of Book Seven also sings "mono omou to tsukihi no yuku mo shirazaritsu," sharing the conceit of forgetting the months and days in brooding.
The poet, called "Fujiwara no Atsutada Ason," was a son of Fujiwara no Tokihira. He rose to Provisional Middle Counselor and was called both the Biwa Middle Counselor and the Hon'in Middle Counselor. Gifted also in music, he is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals. His "aimite no nochi no kokoro ni kurabureba" is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.

The first line, "Mono omou to," means "while I brooded in longing." It is the same line that opens 358 of Book Seven.
The second line, "suguru tsukihi mo," means "the months and days that pass."
The third line, "shiranu ma ni," means "without my knowing."
The fourth line, "kotoshi wa kyō ni," means "this year, with today," pointing to the last day of the twelfth month in the headnote.
In the last line, "nu" is an auxiliary of completion, and "to ka" marks hearsay: "I hear it has come to its end."
Author: Fujiwara no Atsutada
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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