Kaerinishi kari zo naku naru mube hito wa ukiyo no naka o somukikanuran - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

帰りにし雁ぞ鳴くなるむべ人は
憂き世の中を背きかぬらん

Roma-ji: Kaerinishi kari zo naku naru mube hito wa ukiyo no naka o somukikanuran
English Translation: The geese that once left,
now I hear them cry again;
no wonder, then, that men
find this sorrowful world of ours
so hard to turn away from.
Meaning: I hear the cries of the geese that went home in spring and have come back again; no wonder, then, that people find it so hard to forsake this world of sorrow.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Autumn Poems 1104

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Hearing the cries of the geese that went north in spring and have returned in autumn, the poet says it is no wonder that people, like geese that leave and yet come back, cannot forsake this world of sorrow. In the geese that depart and return, he sees the human heart that cannot leave the world it wearies of.
The author, written as "Yoshinobu," is Ōnakatomi no Yoshinobu, of a family of Shinto priests, who served as chief priest of the Ise Shrine and, as one of the Five Men of the Pear Chamber, took part in compiling the Gosenshū. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "kaerinishi," means "that went home," with "ni" perfective and "shi" a past auxiliary, referring to the geese that flew north in spring.
Second line, "kari zo naku naru," means "I hear the geese crying," with "naru," the attributive form of an auxiliary of inference from sound, resolving the binding particle "zo." The poem breaks after this second line.
Third line, "mube hito wa," means "no wonder people," with "mube" expressing assent that something is only natural.
Fourth line, "ukiyo no naka o," means "this world of sorrow."
Final line, "somukikanuran," means "cannot bring themselves to forsake," with "somuku" meaning to renounce the world and become a monk, "kanu" meaning to be unable, and "ran" an auxiliary conjecturing a cause.
Author: Onakatomi no Yoshinobu
Source: Shui Wakashu
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