Koitsutsu mo kyō wa arinan tamakushige aken ashita o ikade kurasamu - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

恋ひつつも今日はありなん玉くしげ
明けん朝をいかで暮らさむ

Roma-ji: Koitsutsu mo kyō wa arinan tamakushige aken ashita o ikade kurasamu
English Translation: Longing all the while,
today I may get through;
but like a jewel box,
when the dawn opens tomorrow,
how shall I live the day through?
Meaning: Longing all the while, I can get through today; but when the night opens into dawn, how shall I live through the morning that comes?
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 696

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem says that, longing all the while, the poet can get through today, but wonders how to live through the morning that comes when the night gives way to dawn. Sharing nearly the same first and final lines as the preceding poem, 695, it differs in that where that poem thinks of tomorrow after living through today, this one already frets over tomorrow morning while today is still going on, forming a pair that shifts the placing of time. A poem of similar import appears in the Man'yōshū.
The author, written as "Hitomaro," is Kakinomoto no Hitomaro. A court poet who served in the reigns of Empress Jitō and Emperor Monmu, he is revered as the Saint of Poetry.

First line, "koitsutsu mo," means "longing all the while," the same line as the first line of the preceding poem, 695.
Second line, "kyō wa arinan," means "I may get through today," with "na" the irrealis form of the perfective "nu" and "n" conjectural. The poem breaks after this second line, which answers the second line of the preceding poem, "kyō wa kurashitsu."
Third line, "tamakushige," is a word of praise for a comb box, and since its lid is opened, "akeru," it is a pillow word introducing "ake," dawn. It is the same word as the third line of the next poem, 697.
Fourth line, "aken ashita o," means "the morning that will dawn."
Final line, "ikade kurasamu," means "how shall I live it through," the same line as the final line of the preceding poem, "ikade kurasan."
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Shui Wakashu
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