Omoiki ya aki no yokaze no samukeki ni imo naki toko ni hitori nemu to wa - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

思ひきや秋の夜風の寒けきに
妹なき床にひとり寝むとは

Roma-ji: Omoiki ya aki no yokaze no samukeki ni imo naki toko ni hitori nemu to wa
English Translation: Could I have dreamed it?
That while the autumn night wind
blows so cold and chill,
in a bed without my love
I would sleep alone like this.
Meaning: Could I ever have imagined it? That on an autumn night, with the wind blowing so cold, I would sleep alone in a bed without my wife.
Commentary: Book Twenty Lament Poems 1285

Headnote: "Around the time his wife had died, when the autumn wind blew cold at night"
The poet says he never imagined that on a night of cold autumn wind he would sleep alone in a bed without his wife. The headnote shows it was composed around the time his wife died, when the autumn wind blew cold at night. Laying the chill of a lonely bed over the chill of the piercing night wind, he sets out forcefully in the first line his shock and grief that such a thing could come to pass.
The author, written as "Vice Governor-General Kuniaki," is Fujiwara no Kuniaki. A son of Fujiwara no Motona, he served as Vice Governor-General of Dazaifu.

First line, "omoiki ya," means "could I have thought it," with "ki" past and "ya" a rhetorical question. The poem breaks after this first line and gives its content in inverted order.
Second line, "aki no yokaze no," means "the autumn night wind."
Third line, "samukeki ni," means "when it is cold," the piercing chill of an autumn night.
Fourth line, "imo naki toko ni," means "in a bed without my wife," with "imo" a man's fond word for his wife.
Final line, "hitori nemu to wa," means "that I would sleep alone," with "mu" conjectural, and "to wa" returning to "omoiki ya" in the first line.
Author: Fujiwara no Kuniaki
Source: Shui Wakashu
Prev Poem: Toki narade hahaso no momiji chirinikeri ika ni ko no moto sabishikaruran
Next Poem: Akikaze ni nabiku kusaba no tsuyu yori mo kienishi hito o nani ni tatoen