Yume ka tomo omou bekeredo obotsukana nenu ni mishikaba waki zo kanetsuru - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

夢かとも思ふべけれどおぼつかな
寝ぬに見しかば分きぞかねつる

Roma-ji: Yume ka tomo omou bekeredo obotsukana nenu ni mishikaba waki zo kanetsuru
English Translation: I ought to think
it might have been a dream,
yet I cannot tell—
for I saw it without sleeping,
I cannot sort the two apart
Meaning: I ought to think it was a dream, and yet I am not sure. Since I saw you without having slept, I cannot tell whether it was dream or waking.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems III 714

Headnote: "Sent to someone."
The poet says she ought to think it a dream, yet feels uncertain, for she saw it without sleeping and cannot tell the difference. She looks back on a fleeting meeting as something neither dream nor reality.
According to the headnote, the poem was sent to someone. Like "nenaku ni yume to" in 703 in this book, it uses the conceit of something dreamlike seen without sleeping.
The poet, listed as "Kiyonari ga musume," was a daughter of a man named Kiyonari, and little is known of her life.

The first line, "Yume ka tomo," means "that it might have been a dream."
The second line, "omou bekeredo," means "I ought to think, yet," with "bekere" the perfective form of the auxiliary "beshi" expressing what is proper.
The third line, "obotsukana," means "uncertain, unclear," an exclamation formed from the stem of an adjective. The poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "nenu ni mishikaba," means "since I saw it without sleeping," the same conceit as "nenaku ni yume to" in the fourth line of 703 in this book.
The last line, "waki zo kanetsuru," means "I cannot tell them apart," with "zo" an emphatic particle closing on the attributive "tsuru," a kakarimusubi pattern.
Author: Daughter of Kiyonari
Source: Gosen Wakashu
Prev Poem: Karakoromo tatsu o oshimishi kokoro koso futamurayama no seki to narikeme
Next Poem: Sora shiranu ame ni mo nururu waga mi kana mikasa no yama o yoso ni kikitsutsu