Shinobamu ni shinobarenubeki koi naraba tsuraki ni tsukete yami mo shinamashi - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

忍ばむに忍ばれぬべき恋ならば
つらきにつけてやみもしなまし

Roma-ji: Shinobamu ni shinobarenubeki koi naraba tsuraki ni tsukete yami mo shinamashi
English Translation: If it were a love
that, when I tried to bear it,
could be borne in time,
with your coldness as excuse
I would have let it end.
Meaning: If this were a love I could bear by trying, I would have let it end long ago, with your coldness as my excuse.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Love Poems V 940

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem says that if this were a love I could hold back by trying, I would surely have given it up, using the other's coldness as my reason. Through an impossible supposition, it expresses the pain of a love that cannot be cut off even while knowing the other's heartlessness.

First line, "shinobamu ni," means "when I try to bear it," with "mu" expressing intention.
Second line, "shinobarenubeki," means "that could surely be borne," with "re" the continuative of the potential "ru" and "nubeki" meaning "surely able." The first and second lines repeat "shinobu."
Third line, "koi naraba," means "if it were a love," a supposition contrary to fact.
Fourth line, "tsuraki ni tsukete," means "taking the other's coldness as my reason."
Final line, "yami mo shinamashi," means "I would have stopped," with "na" the irrealis of the perfective "nu" and "mashi" a counterfactual auxiliary answering "naraba" in the third line.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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