Tsune yori mo kyō no kururu o oshimu kana ima ikutabi no haru to shiraneba - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

常よりも今日の暮るるを惜しむかな
今いくたびの春と知らねば

Roma-ji: Tsune yori mo kyō no kururu o oshimu kana ima ikutabi no haru to shiraneba
English Translation: More than on other days
I grieve to see today
growing dark and done,
for I know not how many more
springtimes there will be
Meaning: More than on any other day, I grieve to see this day grow dark, for I do not know how many more springs I will have.
Commentary: Book Two Spring Poems II 134

Headnote: "Composed on the close of spring when presenting a hundred-poem sequence in the reign of Emperor Horikawa"
Composed on "the close of spring" for the Horikawa Hundred-Poem Sequence. The poet grieves to see this day, on which spring ends, grow dark more than he grieves at the close of any ordinary day, for he does not know how many more springs he will meet. An aging man counting the springs left to him, he cherishes the end of each one all the more.
The author, "Former Middle Counselor Masafusa," is Ōe no Masafusa, son of Ōe no Narihira. As a scholar he served three emperors, Go-Sanjō, Shirakawa and Horikawa, rising to Provisional Middle Counselor. Famed for his learning, he was one of the poets of the Horikawa Hundred-Poem Sequence.

First line, "tsune yori mo": "more than usual," comparing the close of an ordinary day with that of the day spring ends.
Second line, "kyō no kururu o": "kururu" is the attributive of the verb to grow dark: "that today is ending." The next poem, 135, with "kyō kurenu," also speaks of the close of the day spring ends.
Third line, "oshimu kana": "kana" is exclamatory; the poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "ima ikutabi no": "how many more times," thinking of the years left to him.
Fifth line, "haru to shiraneba": "ne" is the realized form of the negative "zu" and "ba" gives a reason: "since I do not know." Inverted with the third line, it supplies the reason for grieving afterward. Where 127 of this book counted the springs already passed with "ikukaeri," this poem counts the springs yet to come.
Author: Oe no Masafusa
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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