Aki wa oshi chigiri wa mataru tonikaku ni kokoro ni kakaru kure no sora kana - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

秋は惜し契りは待たるとにかくに
心にかかる暮れの空かな

Roma-ji: Aki wa oshi chigiri wa mataru tonikaku ni kokoro ni kakaru kure no sora kana
English Translation: Autumn I'm loath to lose,
the pledged meeting I await,
this way or that,
how it hangs upon my heart,
the sky of the waning day
Meaning: I grieve to see the autumn go, yet I long for the meeting we have promised; one way or the other, how this evening sky at autumn's close weighs upon my heart.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 746

Headnote: "Composed on the topic 'Love pledged for the end of autumn'"
Composed on the topic "Love pledged for the end of autumn," that is, a love with a promise to meet as autumn closes. Autumn I am loath to lose, he says, and the promised meeting I await; either way, the evening sky weighs upon my heart. He regrets the end of autumn, yet since he has promised to meet at that time he also longs for it, laying these opposing feelings upon the evening sky of late autumn.
The author, "Middle Captain of the Left Yoshitsune," is Fujiwara no Yoshitsune. The son of Regent Fujiwara no Kanezane, he was Middle Captain of the Left when this anthology was compiled. He later rose to Regent and Chancellor and wrote the kana preface to the Shin Kokin Wakashū. He has a poem in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
Poems 744 and 749 also sing of "kure," dusk, and poems of love waiting for evening recur in this book. The "kure" of this poem overlays the close of the day and the close of autumn, widening the measure of time from a single day to the season.

First line, "aki wa oshi": "autumn, departing, is dear to me."
Second line, "chigiri wa mataru": "ru" is the spontaneous auxiliary, "the promised meeting I cannot help awaiting." It pairs with the first line, setting regret beside expectation.
Third line, "tonikaku ni": "this way and that, either way."
Fourth line, "kokoro ni kakaru": "weighs upon my heart."
Fifth line, "kure no sora kana": "kure" overlays the evening of the day and the end of autumn. "Kana" is exclamatory, "this sky at day's end!" Poems 744 and 749 of this book also sing of "kure."
Author: Fujiwara no Yoshitsune
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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