Wakare yori masarite oshiki inochi kana kimi ni futatabi awamu to omoeba - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

別れより勝りて惜しき命かな
君に再び逢はむと思へば

Roma-ji: Wakare yori masarite oshiki inochi kana kimi ni futatabi awamu to omoeba
English Translation: More than our parting
it is something dearer still,
this life of mine,
for I mean to meet with you
once again someday
Meaning: Dearer to me even than the sorrow of parting is my own life, for I mean to live to meet you once again.
Commentary: Book Seven Parting Poems 477

Headnote: "Composed when Arikuni became Senior Assistant Governor-General and went down to Kyushu"
Composed when Fujiwara no Arikuni was appointed Senior Assistant Governor-General of Dazaifu and went down to Tsukushi. Dearer even than the sorrow of parting, the poet says, is his own life, because he means to meet his friend again. Longing to see once more the one going so far away, he expresses his wish to live until then as a clinging to life. The poem breaks at the third line and places the reason in the lower verse, by inversion.
The author, "Former Major Counselor Kintō," was the son of Chancellor and Regent Fujiwara no Yoritada. He rose to Provisional Major Counselor and was called the Shijō Major Counselor. He compiled the Wakan Rōeishū and excelled in Chinese verse, waka and music. He is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals of the Middle Ages and has a poem in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
The preceding poem sends the traveler off with the heart alone, while this one holds life dear for the sake of reunion. Both see off someone going down from the capital to Tsukushi.

First line, "wakare yori": the comparative "yori," "more than the parting."
Second line, "masarite oshiki": "dearer still," modifying "inochi" in the third line.
Third line, "inochi kana": the exclamatory "kana," and the poem pauses here, in inverted relation to the lower verse.
Fourth line, "kimi ni futatabi": "with you once again," thinking of meeting again the one going far away to Tsukushi.
Fifth line, "awamu to omoeba": "mu" expresses intention, and "omoeba," the perfective with "ba," gives the reason, "since I mean to meet you." It supplies the reason for the third line afterward, by inversion.
Author: Fujiwara no Kintō
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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