Aware to shi kimi dani iwaba koiwabite shinan inochi mo oshikaranaku ni - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

あはれとし君だに言はば恋ひわびて
死なん命も惜しからなくに

Roma-ji: Aware to shi kimi dani iwaba koiwabite shinan inochi mo oshikaranaku ni
English Translation: If you would but say,
you alone, "how sad for you,"
then this life of mine,
to die from the grief of love,
is nothing I would regret.
Meaning: If only you would say "poor thing," then this life of mine that will end in the grief of love would not be something I regret.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 686

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem says that if only the beloved would say "how sad for you," the poet would not regret a life that ends in the grief of love. It expresses a single-minded devotion that would give up life without regret for the least word of sympathy. Where the preceding poem, 685, held that a meeting after death would be meaningless, this one would not shrink from death in exchange for a single word, so contrasting poems on life stand side by side. It also echoes "aware to mo omowaji mono o" of 653.
The author, Minamoto no Tsunemoto, was a son of Prince Sadazumi, a son of Emperor Seiwa, and is regarded as the founder of the Seiwa Genji. He served as Assistant Governor of Musashi among other posts and was involved in suppressing the risings of Taira no Masakado and Fujiwara no Sumitomo.

First line, "aware to shi," means "with 'how sad,'" with "shi" an emphatic particle.
Second line, "kimi dani iwaba," means "if you alone would say," with "dani" expressing a minimal condition.
Third line, "koiwabite," means "pining in love."
Fourth line, "shinan inochi mo," means "even the life that will die," with "na" the irrealis form of the perfective "nu" and "n" conjectural.
Final line, "oshikaranaku ni," means "would not be regretted," with "naku" formed from the negative "zu" with the suffix "ku" and "ni" exclamatory.
Author: Minamoto no Tsunemoto
Source: Shui Wakashu
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