Yume ka to mo omou bekeredo ne ya wa seshi nani zo kokoro ni wasuregataki wa - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

夢かとも思ふべけれど寝やはせし
何ぞ心に忘れがたきは

Roma-ji: Yume ka to mo omou bekeredo ne ya wa seshi nani zo kokoro ni wasuregataki wa
English Translation: I might think it was
only a dream, but tell me,
did I sleep at all?
What is it, then, in my heart
that I cannot forget?
Meaning: I might well think it was a dream, but did I sleep? No. Then what is it that my heart cannot forget?
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 708

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poem says that the poet might well think the meeting was a dream, yet did not sleep, and asks what it is that the heart cannot forget. It expresses a longing that will not leave the heart though the meeting was so fleeting that it seems neither dream nor waking. Its mood recalls the exchange in the Kokinshū and the Tales of Ise asking whether it was dream or reality, sleeping or waking. Together with the next poem, 709, it is one of a pair of poems on dreams.

First line, "yume ka to mo," means "that it was a dream." It shares the word "yume" with the first line of the next poem, 709, "yume yo yume."
Second line, "omou bekeredo," means "I might well think, but," with "bekere" the perfective form of "beshi," expressing what is reasonable, and "do" concessive.
Third line, "ne ya wa seshi," means "did I sleep? no," with "ya wa" rhetorical. The binding particle "ya" is resolved by "shi," the attributive form of the past auxiliary "ki," and the poem breaks after this third line.
Fourth line, "nani zo kokoro ni," means "what is it, in my heart," with the binding particle "zo" resolved by the attributive "gataki" in the final line.
Final line, "wasuregataki wa," means "that is hard to forget," turning back in inverted order to the question of the fourth line.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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