Au naranu koinagusame no araba koso tsurenashi tote mo omoitaename - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

逢ふならぬ恋慰めのあらばこそ
つれなしとても思ひ絶えなめ

Roma-ji: Au naranu koinagusame no araba koso tsurenashi tote mo omoitaename
English Translation: If there were something
other than meeting her
to comfort my love,
then, though she is so cruel,
I could put her from my thoughts
Meaning: If there were any comfort for love besides meeting her, then I could give her up, cold as she is; but there is none.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 736

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
If there were any comfort for love other than meeting, he says, I could give her up for all her coldness. Nothing but meeting her can ease the pain of love, and so even when she treats him coldly he cannot let go, a lament of love from which there is no escape.
The author, "the monk Dōin," was the son of Fujiwara no Kiyotaka. His lay name was Atsuyori, and he is known for his deep devotion to poetry until late in life. He has a poem in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
The last line, "omoitaename," like "ima wa omoi mo taenamashi" in the upper verse of the next poem, 737, supposes the cutting off of love, so that two poems on a love that cannot be given up stand together. Poem 723 also says that nothing but meeting can stop the tears.

First line, "au naranu": "other than meeting," modifying "koinagusame" in the second line.
Second line, "koinagusame no": "something to comfort the pain of love."
Third line, "araba koso": "ba koso" strengthens the supposition, "only if there were." "Koso" binds with "name" in the last line.
Fourth line, "tsurenashi tote mo": "even because she is cold."
Fifth line, "omoitaename": "na" is the irrealis of the perfective "nu" and "me" the perfective form of the conjectural "mu," concluding the "koso" of the third line, "I could give her up," implying that in truth he cannot. It shares the thought of "taenamashi" in the third line of the next poem.
Author: Dōin
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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