Au koto no toshigiri shinuru nageki ni wa mi no kazu naranu mono ni zo arikeru - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

逢ふ事の年ぎりしぬるなげきには
身の数ならぬものにぞありける

Roma-ji: Au koto no toshigiri shinuru nageki ni wa mi no kazu naranu mono ni zo arikeru
English Translation: The sorrow of meetings
that, like fruit in barren years,
have come to fail—
now I know myself to be
a thing not worth the counting
Meaning: In my grief that our meetings have failed, like a tree that bears no fruit in its barren years, I have come to know that I am a thing not worth counting.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems III 1197

Headnote: "The Cloistered Emperor had looked upon her with favor, but later her fortunes declined and things were not as they had been, so she stayed only at her home and sent him this."
The poet says that in her grief that their meetings have failed like a barren year, she has learned she is a thing not worth counting. Likening the end of the Cloistered Emperor's visits to "toshigiri," a tree failing to bear fruit in certain years, she laments the frailty of one whose favor has faded.
According to the headnote, the Cloistered Emperor, Uda, had once favored her, but in time his favor waned and things were not as before, so she remained at her home and sent him this poem.
The poet, "Sekai no Kimi," is Seiwa-in no Kimi. She seems to have been a lady in service at the Seiwa-in who received the favor of Cloistered Emperor Uda, but little is known of her life.

The first line, "Au koto no," means "our meetings."
The second line, "toshigiri shinuru," means "failing as in a barren year," likening the end of the emperor's visits to a fruit tree that bears nothing in certain years.
The third line, "nageki ni wa," is a pivot word joining "nageki," grief, with "nageki," firewood, an associated word with the tree of "toshigiri" in the second line. It means "in my grief."
The fourth line, "mi no kazu naranu," means "I am not worth the counting," a person of no account.
The last line, "mono ni zo arikeru," means "is what I am, I see," with "zo" closed by the attributive "keru"; "keri" marks a belated realization. Poem 1201 of this book ends with the same last line, "mono ni zo arikeru."
Author: Seiwa-in no Kimi
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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