Ukiyo o ba somukaba kyō mo somukinan asu mo ari to wa tanomubeki mi ka - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

憂き世をば背かば今日も背きなん
明日もありとは頼むべき身か

Roma-ji: Ukiyo o ba somukaba kyō mo somukinan asu mo ari to wa tanomubeki mi ka
English Translation: If I am to leave
this sorrowful world, then let it
be this very day;
is mine a life that can trust
there will be a tomorrow?
Meaning: If I am to turn my back on this sorrowful world, let me do it today. Am I one who can count on being alive tomorrow?
Commentary: Book Twenty Lament Poems 1330

Headnote: "Written on his house when he left it to become a priest"
The poet says that if he is to leave the sorrowful world he should do it today, for can he count on being alive tomorrow? The headnote shows it was written on his house when he left to take holy vows. Since a life in this impermanent world may end at any time, he cannot put off taking vows, and he sings of a firm resolve to leave the world. Yasutane took vows in Kanna 2 (986) and took the name Jakushin. Taking up the lament of impermanence in the preceding poem, 1329, that today too has ended, the book turns to poems of taking vows.
The author, Yoshishige no Yasutane, was a son of the yin-yang master Kamo no Tadayuki and is known as a man of letters, author of the Chiteiki and the Nihon Ōjō Gokuraku-ki.

First line, "ukiyo o ba," means "this sorrowful world," with "ba" emphatic.
Second line, "somukaba kyō mo," means "if I am to leave it, even today," "somuku" meaning to turn one's back on the world and take vows.
Third line, "somukinan," means "let me leave it," with "na" perfective and "n" intention, repeating "somuka" from the second line. The poem breaks after this third line.
Fourth line, "asu mo ari to wa," means "that I will be alive tomorrow," pairing with "today" in the second line. It shares with the first line of 1317 in this book, "asu shiranu," the sense that tomorrow's life cannot be relied on.
Final line, "tanomubeki mi ka," means "am I one who can count on it," with "ka" a rhetorical question.
Author: Yoshishige no Yasutane
Source: Shui Wakashu
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