Kagiri aramu michi koso arame kono yo nite wakarubeshi to wa omowazarishi o - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

限りあらむ道こそあらめこの世にて
別るべしとは思はざりしを

Roma-ji: Kagiri aramu michi koso arame kono yo nite wakarubeshi to wa omowazarishi o
English Translation: If it were the road
where every life must find its end,
so it would have to be;
but to part while in this world
I never dreamed would come
Meaning: If it were the road on which life comes to its end, I could accept it; but I never dreamed that we would have to part while still in this world.
Commentary: Book Seven Parting Poems 484

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed on the theme of parting when a hundred-poem sequence was presented"
Like the preceding poem, composed on the topic of parting for the Kyūan Hyakushu. A parting on the road of death, where life has its limit, would be unavoidable, the poet says, but I never thought we would have to part while still alive in this world. Accepting parting by death as inevitable, she laments a parting among the living, setting death and separation in life side by side.
The author, "Hyōe of Jōsaimon'in," was the daughter of Minamoto no Akinaka, Head of the Council of Divinities. A younger sister of Taikenmon'in no Horikawa, she served Taikenmon'in and later her daughter, Princess Muneko, Jōsaimon'in. She was one of the poets of Retired Emperor Sutoku's Kyūan Hyakushu.
The preceding poem sings of a parting through a change of heart, and this one of a parting among the living. Both look beyond the parting of a mere journey to what parting means.

First line, "kagiri aramu": "kagiri" is the limit of life, "where life will have its end."
Second line, "michi koso arame": "michi" is the road of death. The particle "koso" closes with the perfective "me" and continues adversatively, "a parting on that road would be one thing."
Third line, "kono yo nite": "while still alive in this world," set against the road of death in the second line.
Fourth line, "wakarubeshi to wa": "beshi" expresses necessity, "that we must part."
Fifth line, "omowazarishi o": "zari" is the continuative of the negative "zu," "shi" the attributive of the past "ki," and "o" an adversative tinged with feeling, "I never thought so," leaving a lingering sense.
Author: Jōsaimon'in no Hyōe
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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