Izuko ni mo mi oba hanarenu kage shi areba fusu toko goto ni hitori ya wa nuru - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

いづこにも身をば離れぬ影しあれば
臥す床ごとに一人やは寝る

Roma-ji: Izuko ni mo mi oba hanarenu kage shi areba fusu toko goto ni hitori ya wa nuru
English Translation: Wherever I go
there is a shadow never
parted from my side—
on any bed where I lie down,
how could I sleep alone
Meaning: Wherever I may be, there is a shadow that never leaves me, so on whatever bed I lie, how could I ever be sleeping alone?
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems III 1228

Headnote: "When a woman friend teased him, saying that he had no settled wife and always slept alone."
The poet asks how he could sleep alone on any bed, since a shadow that never leaves him is always there. Teased by a woman friend for having no settled wife and always sleeping alone, he wittily retorts that he is never alone, with his shadow ever beside him.
According to the headnote, a woman friend teasingly told him that he had no settled wife and always slept alone, and he composed this.
The poet is anonymous and the name is not known.

The first line, "Izuko ni mo," means "wherever I may be."
The second line, "mi oba hanarenu," means "never parted from me."
The third line, "kage shi areba," means "since there is a shadow," with "shi" emphatic and "ba" giving the cause; it has an extra syllable.
The fourth line, "fusu toko goto ni," means "on every bed where I lie."
The last line, "hitori ya wa nuru," means "how could I sleep alone," with the rhetorical binding particle "ya wa" closed by the attributive "nuru."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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