Kaku bakari ukimi no hodo mo wasurarete nao koishiki wa miyako narikeri - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

かくばかり憂き身のほども忘られて
なほ恋しきは都なりけり

Roma-ji: Kaku bakari ukimi no hodo mo wasurarete nao koishiki wa miyako narikeri
English Translation: So deep is my longing
that I forget for a while
how wretched my lot,
and still what I yearn for
is the capital alone
Meaning: I even forget how wretched my circumstances are, for still, what I long for above all is the capital.
Commentary: Book Eight Travel Poems 541

Headnote: "Composed when, through an unforeseen event, I was in an unknown land"
Composed when, through an unforeseen event, the poet was in an unknown land. Charged with joining the Shishigatani plot of 1177, he had been exiled to Kikaigashima, and this poem was written in that place of exile. So much so that I forget even how wretched my lot is, what I still long for is the capital, he says. He expresses a longing for the capital so strong that it makes him forget even the misery of exile.
The author, "Taira no Yasuyori (Buddhist name Shōshō)," was a guard in the Northern Quarters serving Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa. Charged with joining the Shishigatani plot of 1177, he was exiled to Kikaigashima with Shunkan and Fujiwara no Naritsune, and was pardoned and returned to the capital the following year. Taking the tonsure as Shōshō, he wrote the Buddhist tale collection Hōbutsushū.
This poem and the next, 542, are poems by Yasuyori from his exile on Kikaigashima.

First line, "kaku bakari": "to this extent." Poem 520 of this book also opens with "kaku bakari."
Second line, "ukimi no hodo mo": "hodo" means one's circumstances, here the wretched state of an exile.
Third line, "wasurarete": "rare" is the continuative of the spontaneous "raru," "forgotten of itself."
Fourth line, "nao koishiki wa": "nao," "still, even so."
Fifth line, "miyako narikeri": the exclamatory "keri" of realization, "what I long for is the capital."
Author: Taira no Yasuyori
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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