Miyako nite okuri mukau to isogishi o shirade ya toshi no kyō wa kurenan - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

都にて送り迎ふと急ぎしを
知らでや年の今日は暮れなん

Roma-ji: Miyako nite okuri mukau to isogishi o shirade ya toshi no kyō wa kurenan
English Translation: In the capital
I hurried to send off the old
and welcome the new;
unknowing of all that now,
does the year's last day grow dark?
Meaning: In the capital I used to bustle about seeing out the old year and welcoming the new; now, knowing nothing of all that, will the last day of the year simply close?
Commentary: Book Six Winter Poems 475

Headnote: "Composed when, after taking the tonsure and living in seclusion at Ōhara, the holy men there composed on the topic 'The Year's End in Quiet Seclusion'"
Composed when, after taking the tonsure and living in seclusion at Ōhara, he joined the holy men there in composing on the topic of the year's end in quiet seclusion. In the capital, the poet says, he used to bustle about seeing out the old year and welcoming the new, and now, knowing nothing of all that, will the last day of the year simply close? In the quiet year's end of a mountain village far from the bustle of worldly rites, he looks back with deep feeling on his days in the capital. It is the final poem of the winter book.
The author, "Minister of Popular Affairs Chikanori," is Taira no Chikanori, son of Taira no Norike, who rose to Minister of Popular Affairs before taking the tonsure and living at Ōhara.
The seven poems from 469 to 475, the last poem of the book, are poems on the end of the year. This poem closes them and is the final poem of the book. The opening poem, 387, began the winter poems on the day after autumn's end with "kinō koso aki wa kureshika." This final poem closes them on the last day of the year with "toshi no kyō wa kurenan," so that the beginning and end of the book answer each other in "yesterday" and "today," the end of autumn and the end of the year.
The fourth line of the main text reads "shirade ya toshi no," which does not match "shirite ya toshi no" in the line of readings. Here the main text is followed.

First line, "miyako nite": "when I was in the capital," set against Ōhara, where he now lives as a monk.
Second line, "okuri mukau to": "to see out the old year and welcome the new," the observances from the year's end into the New Year.
Third line, "isogishi o": "isogu" is to be busy with preparations, and "shi," the attributive of the past "ki," looks back on his days in the capital.
Fourth line, "shirade ya toshi no": the negative connective "de," "without knowing," and the interrogative "ya" closes with the attributive "nan" in the last line.
Fifth line, "kyō wa kurenan": "nan" is the irrealis of the perfective "nu" with the conjectural "mu," "it will end, I suppose." Answering "kinō koso" in the book's opening poem, 387, it closes the winter poems on the word "kyō," today.
Author: Taira no Chikanori
Source: Senzai Wakashu
Prev Poem: Hitotose wa hakanaki yume no kokochi shite kurenuru kyō zo odorokarekeru
Next Poem: Mukashi mishi kokoro bakari o shirube nite omoi zo okuru Iki no Matsubara