classic waka stream

我が身にもあらぬ我が身の悲しきに
心もことになりやしにけん
Roma-ji

Waga mi ni mo aranu waga mi no kanashiki ni kokoro mo koto ni nari ya shiniken

English Translation
In the sorrow of
a self that seems no longer
to be my own self,
has my heart too, I wonder,
become a thing apart
Meaning
In the sorrow of this self that hardly seems my own, has my heart too become something other than it was?
Commentary
Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems III 1200

Headnote: "When she had a matter for which she kept in retreat at her home, and had secretly come to her room at court, the Minister reproached her, asking why she had not sent word."
The poet asks whether, in the sorrow of a self that no longer seems her own, her heart too has changed. Lamenting that in her disgrace even her heart has become like another's, she apologizes to the Minister who reproached her for not writing.
According to the headnote, she had withdrawn to her home in disgrace but had secretly come to her room at court, and when the Minister reproached her for sending no word, she composed this poem. The Minister is thought to be Fujiwara no Saneyori.
The poet, Taifu, was a lady-in-waiting poet of the Gosenshu era and is said to have been a daughter of Minamoto no Tasuku.

The first line, "Waga mi ni mo," means "even as my own self."
The second line, "aranu waga mi no," means "of a self that is not," and with the first line describes a self that no longer seems her own. Repeating "waga mi" stresses how changed she is in her disgrace.
The third line, "kanashiki ni," means "in the sorrow of."
The fourth line, "kokoro mo koto ni," means "my heart too, different," with "koto" meaning other than before.
The last line, "nari ya shiniken," means "has it become, I wonder," with the interrogative binding particle "ya" closed by the attributive "ken."
Author
Taifu
Source
Gosen Wakashu
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