Oku shimo no akatsukioki o omowazu wa kimi ga yodono ni yogare semashi ya - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

おく霜の暁起きを思はずは
君が夜殿に夜離れせましや

Roma-ji: Oku shimo no akatsukioki o omowazu wa kimi ga yodono ni yogare semashi ya
English Translation: Were it not for dread
of rising at dawn to leave
where the frost lies white,
would I ever spend a night
away from your chamber, love
Meaning: Were it not for dreading the dawn when I must rise in the frost and leave, would I ever spend a night away from your bedchamber?
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems V 914

Headnote: "Sent the next morning by a man who had been visiting secretly, after he failed to come on a night of heavy frost."
The poet asks whether, were it not for dreading to rise and leave at a frosty dawn, he would ever spend a night away from her chamber. As an excuse for not coming on a frosty night, he brings up the pain of rising to leave on a frosty morning.
According to the headnote, a man who had been visiting in secret did not come on a night of heavy frost and sent this the next morning. It takes up the parting at dawn of the preceding poem, 913, and the woman's reply follows in the next poem, 915.
The poet is listed as anonymous, and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Oku shimo no," means "of the settling frost," with "oku," to settle, also leading by sound to "oki," rising, in the second line.
The second line, "akatsukioki o," means "rising at dawn to leave."
The third line, "omowazu wa," means "if I did not think of," marking a supposition.
The fourth line, "kimi ga yodono ni," means "from your bedchamber."
The last line, "yogare semashi ya," means "would I ever stay away a night? never," with "mashi" an auxiliary of the counterfactual and "ya" marking a rhetorical question.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
Prev Poem: Tsune yori mo okiukaritsuru akatsuki wa tsuyu sae kakaru mono ni zo arikeru
Next Poem: Shimo okanu haru yori nochi no nagame ni mo itsuka wa kimi ga yogare sezarishi