classic waka stream

常に見し君が御幸を今日問へば
帰らぬ旅と聞くぞ悲しき
Roma-ji

Tsune ni mishi kimi ga miyuki o kyō toeba kaeranu tabi to kiku zo kanashiki

English Translation
When today I asked
where my lord's procession goes,
that I always saw,
how sad to hear it is a journey
from which he will not return
Meaning
When today I asked about my lord's procession, which I had seen so many times, how sad to be told it is a journey from which he will never return.
Commentary
Book Nine Poems of Lament 589

Headnote: "Composed on the night of the funeral after Retired Emperor Nijō passed away"
Composed on the night of the funeral after Retired Emperor Nijō died. When today I asked about my lord's procession, which I had always seen, the poet says, how sad to hear it is a journey of no return. Today's cortege sets out like the many processions he had watched before, yet it is a journey of death from which there is no coming back, and the poem conveys the deep grief of that funeral night. Emperor Nijō died in 1165.
The author, "Hōin Chōken," was the son of Junior Counselor Fujiwara no Michinori, that is, Shinzei. A Tendai monk known as a master preacher, he is regarded as the founder of the Agui school of sermon recitation.
Fujiwara no Shigenori of 591, Fujiwara no Sadanori of 592 and Fujiwara no Nagonori of 595 in this book were also sons of Shinzei, so laments by Shinzei's sons are gathered in this part of the book.

First line, "tsune ni mishi": "shi" is the attributive of the past "ki," "that I always saw."
Second line, "kimi ga miyuki o": "miyuki" is an outing of an emperor or retired emperor, here likening the funeral cortege to such a procession.
Third line, "kyō toeba": "toe" is the perfective, and with "ba" means "when I asked today." The next poem, 590, also sings of the grief of having no one to ask, "mata tou kata no."
Fourth line, "kaeranu tabi to": "a journey of no return," the journey of death.
Fifth line, "kiku zo kanashiki": the emphatic "zo" closes with the attributive "kanashiki." It is the same close as "naki zo kanashiki" in the next poem, 590.
Author
Chōken
Source
Senzai Wakashu
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