Aki no yo no kusa no tozashi no wabishiki wa akuredo akenu mono ni zo arikeru - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

秋の夜の草の戸ざしのわびしきは
あくれどあけぬものにぞありける

Roma-ji: Aki no yo no kusa no tozashi no wabishiki wa akuredo akenu mono ni zo arikeru
English Translation: On an autumn night,
the misery of a door
of grass shut against me:
though the night has opened to dawn,
the door has never opened
Meaning: The misery of a grass door shut fast on an autumn night is this: though the night opens into dawn, the door never opens.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems V 899

Headnote: "Sent the next morning after he had gone to a woman's house, been refused when she kept her gate shut, and gone home."
The poet says the misery of a grass door shut on an autumn night lies in this: the night opens into dawn, but the door never opens. Overlaying the night's breaking with the opening of the door, he voices his resentment at waiting outside the gate all night without being let in.
According to the headnote, he went to a woman's house but she kept her gate shut, so he went home and sent this poem the next morning. The next poem, 900, is her reply, and the two share the phrase "aki no yo no kusa no tozashi" to form an exchange.
The poet, listed as "Kanesuke Ason," was Fujiwara no Kanesuke. A son of Fujiwara no Toshimoto, he rose to Middle Counselor of the Junior Third Rank and was called the Tsutsumi Middle Counselor. He was the great-grandfather of Murasaki Shikibu. One of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals, his "mika no hara wakite nagaruru izumigawa" is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.

The first line, "Aki no yo no," means "of an autumn night," marking a long night.
The second line, "kusa no tozashi no," means "of a grass door shut," a humble way of speaking of the woman's gate. The next poem uses the same phrase in its third and fourth lines.
The third line, "wabishiki wa," means "what is wretched is."
The fourth line, "akuredo akenu," means "though it opens, it does not open," with "aku" joining the night's breaking into dawn and the opening of a door.
The last line, "mono ni zo arikeru," means "that is how it has been," with "zo" an emphatic binding particle closed by the attributive "keru."
Author: Fujiwara no Kanesuke
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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