Oshimedomo hakanaku kurete yuku toshi no shinobu mukashi ni kaeramashikaba - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

惜しめどもはかなく暮れてゆく年の
しのぶ昔に帰らましかば

Roma-ji: Oshimedomo hakanaku kurete yuku toshi no shinobu mukashi ni kaeramashikaba
English Translation: Though I hold it dear,
the year that fades so fleetingly
slips away at dusk:
if only it would go back
to the days I long for still
Meaning: However I regret it, the year fades away so fleetingly; if only, as it goes back, it would return to the days of old I long for.
Commentary: Book Six Winter Poems 473

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed on the topic 'Reflections at the Year's End'"
Composed on the topic of reflections at the year's end. However he regrets it, the poet says, the year fades away so fleetingly, and if only, as it goes back, it would return to the days of old he longs for. Seizing on the expression that a departing year "returns," he wishes that, if it must go back, it would go back to the days he yearns for.
The author, "Minamoto no Mitsuyuki," was the son of Minamoto no Mitsusue. A scholar and poet from the late Heian into the early Kamakura period, he edited the text of The Tale of Genji together with his son Minamoto no Chikayuki.
The seven poems from 469 to 475, the last poem of the book, are poems on the end of the year. The preceding poem, 472, and this one were composed on the same topic of reflections at the year's end. Following 469 and 471 of this book, it sings of the year "returning."

First line, "oshimedomo": "domo" gives a concession, "though I regret it."
Second line, "hakanaku kurete": "hakanaku" means fleetingly, in vain.
Third line, "yuku toshi no": "the departing year."
Fourth line, "shinobu mukashi ni": "shinobu" is to remember fondly, to long for.
Fifth line, "kaeramashikaba": "mashikaba" is the counterfactual supposition, "if it were to return." Breaking off, it leaves unsaid the close, "how good that would be." Like 469 and 471 of this book, it sings of the year "returning."
Author: Minamoto no Mitsuyuki
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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