Yo no naka ni aramashikaba to omou hito naki ga ōku mo narinikeru kana - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

世の中にあらましかばと思ふ人
亡きが多くもなりにけるかな

Roma-ji: Yo no naka ni aramashikaba to omou hito naki ga ōku mo narinikeru kana
English Translation: In this world of ours,
the ones I wish were still here,
the people I hold dear,
how many of them, the dead,
have come to number now!
Meaning: Of those I wish were still in this world, how many have now come to be among the dead!
Commentary: Book Twenty Lament Poems 1299

Headnote: "On seeing someone lament that so many of those he had known long ago had died"
The poet says that of those he wishes were still in the world, so many are now among the dead. The headnote shows it was composed on seeing someone lament that many of the people once close to him had died. It sings simply and feelingly of the loneliness of watching dear ones leave the world one after another as the years go by. The next poem, 1300, is Fujiwara no Kintō's reply.
The author, Fujiwara no Tameyori, was a son of Fujiwara no Masatada and an uncle of Murasaki Shikibu.

First line, "yo no naka ni," means "in this world."
Second line, "aramashikaba to," means "if only they were alive," with "mashika" the irrealis form of the counterfactual "mashi."
Third line, "omou hito," means "those I think of so," the people one wishes were alive. The final line of the next poem, 1300, "sono kazu ni dani iraji to omoeba," takes up the number of these people.
Fourth line, "naki ga ōku mo," means "so many of them dead."
Final line, "narinikeru kana," means "have they come to be," with "nikeru" perfective and exclamatory auxiliaries and "kana" exclamatory.
Author: Fujiwara no Tameyori
Source: Shui Wakashu
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