Ukiyo to wa omou monokara ama no to no akuru wa tsuraki mono ni zo arikeru - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

うき世とは思ふものから天の戸の
あくるはつらき物にぞ有りける

Roma-ji: Ukiyo to wa omou monokara ama no to no akuru wa tsuraki mono ni zo arikeru
English Translation: That this world is grief
I knew well enough, and yet
the gate of heaven
opening as night turns to dawn—
that was the cruelest thing
Meaning: I had always thought this a world of sorrow, yet the opening of heaven's gate as the night turned to dawn proved crueler still.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems VI 996

Headnote: "Composed after returning home, having gone to visit in person and talked the whole night through, when the dawn came all too soon."
The poet says that he had known the world to be sorrowful, yet the dawn breaking like the opening of heaven's gate was crueler still. Though he always knew the world's pains, the dawn that cut short his talk with his beloved outdid them all.
According to the headnote, the poet had gone to visit in person and talked all night, but dawn came all too soon, and he composed this after returning home. Where the preceding exchange spoke of meetings that stall, this poem laments how short the night of meeting was, so the grief of not meeting and the grief after meeting are set side by side.
The poet is listed as anonymous, and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Ukiyo to wa," means "that this is a world of sorrow," with "uki" the attributive form of "ushi."
The second line, "omou monokara," means "though I thought so," with "monokara" an adversative conjunctive particle.
The third line, "ama no to no," means "of the gate of heaven," leading from the gate's opening to the coming of dawn.
The fourth line, "akuru wa tsuraki," means "the dawning is cruel," with "akuru" joining the opening of heaven's gate and the breaking of day.
The last line, "mono ni zo arikeru," means "it was such a thing," closing the binding particle "zo" with the attributive "keru." "Keri" expresses the exclamation of a sudden realization.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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