Ika narishi toki kuretake no hitoyo dani itazurabushi o kurushi to iuran - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

いかなりし時くれ竹のひとよだに
いたづらぶしを苦しと言ふらん

Roma-ji: Ika narishi toki kuretake no hitoyo dani itazurabushi o kurushi to iuran
English Translation: At what time was it,
as the dusk fell on bamboo,
that for one night's joint
I called it so hard to bear
lying in my bed alone?
Meaning: At what time was it, I wonder, that I once complained that even a single night, short as a joint of bamboo, spent lying alone in vain was painful to bear?
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 804

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem asks at what time, once, one complained that even a single night of empty solitary sleep was painful. Now that nights of sleeping alone pile up, one looks back on the time of lamenting a single night as happy still. It is a poem of artful technique, stringing together words associated with the bamboo and overlaying the joints of bamboo with the nights.

First line, "ika narishi," means "what was it like." It pairs with the first line of the next poem, 805, "ika naran," as questions of past and future.
Second line, "toki kuretake no," is a pivot word: "kure" means time "growing dark" and "kuretake," Chinese bamboo. It shares the word "kuretake" with the third line of the next poem, 805.
Third line, "hitoyo dani," is a pivot word: "hitoyo" means "one night" and also "one joint," the space between nodes of bamboo, with "dani" an adverbial particle meaning "even."
Fourth line, "itazurabushi o," means "an empty, solitary sleep," with "fushi" echoing the "node" of bamboo as an associated word.
Final line, "kurushi to iuran," means "did I call it painful," with "ran" conjecturing a cause.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
Prev Poem: Waga seko ga arika mo shirade netaru yo wa akatsukigata no makura sabishi mo
Next Poem: Ika naran orifushi ni ka wa kuretake no yoru wa koishiki hito ni aimimu