Hakanashi na kokorozukushi ni toshi o hete itsu tomo shiranu Au no Matsubara - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

はかなしな心尽くしに年を経て
いつとも知らぬあふのまつ原

Roma-ji: Hakanashi na kokorozukushi ni toshi o hete itsu tomo shiranu Au no Matsubara
English Translation: How futile it is!
Spending all my heart on her,
year on year goes by,
not knowing when we'll ever meet,
at the Pine Grove of Meeting
Meaning: How futile it is! Wearing out my heart year after year, I wait on at the Pine Grove of Meeting, never knowing when we will meet.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 764

Headnote: "Composed on the topic 'Love conveyed through pines' when people composed poems for the Iwashimizu poetry contest"
Composed on the topic "Love conveyed through pines" when people composed poems for a poetry contest at Iwashimizu. How futile, the poet says, to spend my heart through the years, waiting at the Pine Grove of Meeting with no knowledge of when. In the name of the famed place, Au no Matsubara, "au" echoes "to meet" and "matsu" echoes "to wait," expressing the futility of waiting years for a lover whose coming is uncertain.
In the main text, the place of the author's name bears only "(Tsunefu)," and the author cannot be determined.
Poem 705 of this book, "hito ni kokoro o tsukusu kana," also sings of the futility of a love on which the heart is spent.

First line, "hakanashi na": "na" is an exclamatory particle, "how futile!" The poem pauses here.
Second line, "kokorozukushi ni": "wearing out my heart with anxious care."
Third line, "toshi o hete": "passing the years."
Fourth line, "itsu tomo shiranu": "not knowing when we will meet."
Fifth line, "Au no Matsubara": the famed Pine Grove of Au, with "au" pivoting on "to meet" and "matsu" on "to wait." Ending on a noun, it closes by entrusting a heart that waits on to a place name.
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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