Omoine no yume to iite mo yaminamashi nakanaka nani ni ari to shiriken - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

思ひ寝の夢と言ひてもやみなまし
なかなか何にありと知りけん

Roma-ji: Omoine no yume to iite mo yaminamashi nakanaka nani ni ari to shiriken
English Translation: "A dream of longing,"
I could have said, and let it end—
why, all the worse,
did I ever come to learn
that you were truly here
Meaning: I could have called it a dream born of longing and let it go at that. Why, all the worse, did I ever learn that you were really here?
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems IV 872

Headnote: "When she had sent the poem, Chisato read it and merely wrote back, offhandedly, that he had in fact come back the day before yesterday but had been feeling unwell, so she sent this again."
The poet says she could have called it a dream born of longing and let it end, and asks why, all the worse, she ever learned he was really there. Had she thought it a dream, she might have given up, but learning that he had returned and still not come only deepened her pain.
According to the headnote, after she sent the preceding poem, 871, Chisato read it and replied offhandedly only that he had in fact returned two days before but had been feeling unwell, so she sent this poem again. It continues the preceding poem, by the woman who loved Ōe no Chisato.
The poet is listed as anonymous, and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Omoine no," means "of sleeping in longing," the dream one sees after falling asleep thinking of someone.
The second line, "yume to iite mo," means "calling it a dream," taking up "yume no shirushi" in the preceding poem.
The third line, "yaminamashi," means "I should have let it end there," with "mashi" counterfactual. The poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "nakanaka nani ni," means "why, all the worse."
The last line, "ari to shiriken," means "did I learn you were here," with "ken" conjecturing a past cause and closing in the attributive in answer to "nani ni" in the fourth line.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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