Wakare o ba kanashiki mono to kikishikado ushiroyasuku mo omōyuru kana - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

別れをば悲しきものと聞きしかど
うしろやすくも思ほゆるかな

Roma-ji: Wakare o ba kanashiki mono to kikishikado ushiroyasuku mo omōyuru kana
English Translation: Partings, they say,
are a sorrowful thing,
so I had heard,
yet now I feel only
untroubled, free of care
Meaning: I had heard that partings are full of sorrow, yet now, strangely, I feel at ease, with nothing left behind to trouble me.
Commentary: Book Nine Love Poems I 573

Headnote: "Seeing her husband take in another woman, she was going back to her parents' house."
The poet says that though she had heard partings are full of sorrow, she now feels at ease, with nothing left behind to trouble her. Leaving the house after seeing the man take in another woman, she puts on a brave show of having no regrets.
According to the headnote, she composed it as she was going back to her parents' house after seeing the man take in another woman. By declaring a parting that should be sad "untroubled," she lets a deep pain show through.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us. The text gives the poet as "yomibito mo," which is treated here as "anonymous."

The first line, "Wakare o ba," means "partings."
The second line, "kanashiki mono to," means "as something sad."
The third line, "kikishikado," means "though I had heard so," with "do" a concessive particle.
The fourth line, "ushiroyasuku mo," means "with nothing left behind to worry about, at ease."
The last line, "omōyuru kana," means "so I cannot help but feel," the same line that closes 537 in this book.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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