Tamuke senu wakare suru mi no wabishiki wa hitome o tabi to omou narikeri - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

手向けせぬ別れする身のわびしきは
人目を旅と思ふなりけり

Roma-ji: Tamuke senu wakare suru mi no wabishiki wa hitome o tabi to omou narikeri
English Translation: A parting made
with no offering to the gods—
what makes it so hard
is that I take the eyes of others
for a journey far away
Meaning: What makes this parting, made without any offering for the road, so hard to bear is that I think of the watchful eyes of others as a long journey keeping us apart.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems III 704

Headnote: "When a woman in palace service was hard to meet."
The poet says that what pains him in this parting without an offering is that he thinks of others' eyes as a journey between them. He likens a love that cannot meet for fear of being seen, though the two are near, to a parting before a long journey.
According to the headnote, the poem was composed when a woman serving at court was difficult to meet. It shares its third and last lines with the preceding poem, 703, following the same pattern.
The poet, listed as "Tsurayuki," was Ki no Tsurayuki. One of the compilers of the Kokin Wakashū, he served as Governor of Tosa among other posts. He is also known as the author of the Tosa Diary and is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.

The first line, "Tamuke senu," means "with no offering made." Travelers offered strips of cloth to the gods of the road to pray for safety; this is a parting without even that offering.
The second line, "wakare suru mi no," means "I who am parting."
The third line, "wabishiki wa," means "what is painful," the same line as in the preceding poem.
The fourth line, "hitome o tabi to," means "the eyes of others as a journey," likening the separation imposed by watchful eyes to the distance of travel.
The last line, "omou narikeri," means "is that I think so," the same as the last line of the preceding poem.
Author: Ki no Tsurayuki
Source: Gosen Wakashu
Prev Poem: Utsutsu ni mo hakanaki koto no wabishiki wa nenaku ni yume to omou narikeri
Next Poem: Yado kaete matsu ni mo miezu narinureba tsuraki tokoro no ōku mo aru kana