Ikukaeri kyō ni waga mi no ainuran oshiki wa haru no suguru nomi ka wa - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

幾返り今日に我が身のあひぬらん
惜しきは春の過ぐるのみかは

Roma-ji: Ikukaeri kyō ni waga mi no ainuran oshiki wa haru no suguru nomi ka wa
English Translation: How many times now
have I met this very day
when the spring departs?
Is it only the spring's passing
that I find so hard to lose?
Meaning: How many times have I met this day on which spring ends? Is it only the passing of spring that I grieve? Surely not.
Commentary: Book Two Spring Poems II 127

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed on the topic 'The End of the Third Month'"
Like the preceding poem, this was composed on "The End of the Third Month." How many times, the poet asks, has he met this day on which spring ends? Is it only spring's passing that he grieves? Surely not: the passing of his own years grieves him too. In the yearly return of spring's last day he counts the years he has lived, layering the lament of aging onto regret for spring.
The author, "Fujiwara no Sadanari," is a figure whose life is not well known.

First line, "ikukaeri": "how many times," answering "ran" in the third line.
Second line, "kyō ni waga mi no": "today" is this last day of the Third Month.
Third line, "ainuran": "nu" is perfective and "ran" present conjecture: "I wonder how often I have met it." The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "oshiki wa haru no": "what I regret is spring's."
Fifth line, "suguru nomi ka wa": "ka wa" is rhetorical: "only its passing? Surely not," implying that his own years pass with the spring. The next poem, 128, also ends with "nomi ka wa." Like "hana mo hikazu mo tsumorinuru" in the book's opening poem, 77, it speaks of time passing along with spring.
Author: Fujiwara no Sadanari
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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