Omoiizuru sono nagusame mo arinamashi aimite nochi no tsurasa nariseba - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

思ひ出づるその慰めもありなまし
逢ひ見て後のつらさなりせば

Roma-ji: Omoiizuru sono nagusame mo arinamashi aimite nochi no tsurasa nariseba
English Translation: There would at least be
the comfort of remembering,
if only it were
the pain that comes after
we had met and been as one
Meaning: If this were the pain that comes after we had met and become lovers, at least I would have the comfort of memories. But I have never even met her, and so I have none.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 701

Headnote: "Composed as a love poem at the poetry contest held at the house of the Regent when he was Minister of the Right"
Composed as a love poem at a poetry contest held at the house of Kujō Kanezane, Regent at the time this anthology was compiled, when he was Minister of the Right. If this were the pain after meeting, he says, there would at least be the comfort of remembering. Comparing the anguish of a love that has never once met with the anguish after meeting, he laments that memories would at least be some comfort, but he does not have even that.
The author, "Fujiwara no Suetsune Ason," was the son of Fujiwara no Akisuke, Master of the Capital Office of the Left. A poet of the Rokujō Fujiwara house, he carried on the house's poetic learning with his elder brother Kiyosuke and later rose to Minister of the Imperial Household.
It pairs with "aiminu saki no wakare," "the parting before meeting," in 698 of this book, comparing the pain before and after meeting.

First line, "omoiizuru": a line with an extra syllable, "remembering."
Second line, "sono nagusame mo": "even that comfort of remembering."
Third line, "arinamashi": "na" is the irrealis of the perfective "nu," and "mashi" the counterfactual auxiliary, answering "seba" in the last line, "there would have been." The poem pauses here, in inverted order.
Fourth line, "aimite nochi no": "after meeting and becoming lovers." It pairs with "aiminu saki no" in the fourth line of 698.
Fifth line, "tsurasa nariseba": "se" is the irrealis of the past "ki," and with "ba" it makes a counterfactual condition, "if it were the pain."
Author: Fujiwara no Suetsune
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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