Kimi ga yo o nagatsuki to dani omowazu wa ika ni wakare no kanashikaramashi - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

君が世をながつきとだに思はずは
いかに別れの悲しからまし

Roma-ji: Kimi ga yo o nagatsuki to dani omowazu wa ika ni wakare no kanashikaramashi
English Translation: Had I not at least
thought of your days as long
as the Long Month's name,
how much sorrow there would be
in this parting of ours.
Meaning: If I had not at least thought of your days as long, like the name of the Long Month, how sad this parting would be.
Commentary: Book Six Parting Poems 309

Headnote: "In the Tenryaku era, when the High Priestess went down to Ise on the fifteenth day of the Ninth Month"
Drawing on the name of the Ninth Month, the "Long Month," the emperor says that had he not at least thought of the priestess's days as long, as the month's name suggests, how sad this parting would have been. By entrusting his hope to the month's name, he barely consoles the sorrow of parting with the High Priestess going down to Ise. According to the headnote, it was composed in the Tenryaku era of Emperor Murakami, on the fifteenth day of the Ninth Month, when the High Priestess went down to Ise.
The author, written as "imperial composition," is Emperor Murakami. A son of Emperor Daigo, his reign was praised as the Tenryaku rule. He established a poetry bureau in the Pear Chamber and ordered the compilation of the Gosenshū.

First line, "kimi ga yo o," means "your days, your life ahead."
Second line, "nagatsuki to dani," plays on "Nagatsuki," the Ninth Month, and "naga," long, meaning "at least as long." After the autumn of 308 two poems earlier, an autumn parting is sung of.
Third line, "omowazu wa," means "had I not thought," expressing a supposition.
Fourth line, "ika ni wakare no," means "how much the parting."
Final line, "kanashikaramashi," means "would have been sad," with "mashi" an auxiliary supposing what is contrary to fact. Taking up the supposition of the third line, it shows that in truth the poet is consoled by the name of the Long Month.
Author: Emperor Murakami
Source: Shui Wakashu
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