Au koto no taete shi naku wa nakanaka ni hito o mo mi o mo uramizaramashi - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

逢ふことの絶えてしなくはなかなかに
人をも身をも恨みざらまし

Roma-ji: Au koto no taete shi naku wa nakanaka ni hito o mo mi o mo uramizaramashi
English Translation: If there were never
any meeting in this world,
then, contrary to now,
neither her nor my own self
would I have cause to resent.
Meaning: If there were no such thing as meeting at all, then I would not, as I do, resent either her coldness or my own lot.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 678

Headnote: "At the poetry contest in the Tenryaku era"
The poem says that if there were no such thing as meeting at all, the poet would not resent either the beloved or himself. Through a counterfactual, it expresses love's paradox: it is precisely because there is hope of meeting that not meeting now is so bitter. The headnote shows it was composed at the Palace Poetry Contest of the fourth year of Tentoku, the same contest as the opening poems, 621 and 622.
The author, written as "Middle Counselor Asatada," is Fujiwara no Asatada. A son of Fujiwara no Sadakata, the Sanjō Minister of the Right, he rose to Middle Counselor of the Junior Third Rank. He was also known as a master of the shō, and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets. This poem was chosen for the Hyakunin Isshu.

First line, "au koto no," means "meeting," and with the first lines of 626, "au koto o," and the next poem, 679, "au koto wa," poems beginning "au koto" follow one another.
Second line, "taete shi naku wa," means "if there were none at all," with "taete" meaning "at all" before a negative, "shi" emphatic, and "naku wa" expressing supposition.
Third line, "nakanaka ni," means "on the contrary."
Fourth line, "hito o mo mi o mo," means "neither her nor myself," setting the two side by side with repeated "mo."
Final line, "uramizaramashi," means "I would not resent," with "mashi" a counterfactual auxiliary.
Author: Fujiwara no Asatada
Source: Shui Wakashu
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