Kanete yori omoishi koto zo fushishiba no koru bakari naru nageki sen to wa - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

かねてより思ひしことぞ伏柴の
こるばかりなるなげきせんとは

Roma-ji: Kanete yori omoishi koto zo fushishiba no koru bakari naru nageki sen to wa
English Translation: From long before this
it is what I had foreseen:
like brushwood one cuts,
that I would grieve enough to rue it,
feeding the fire of my grief
Meaning: I had known it from long before: that I would come to such grief, as one cuts brushwood for the fire, that I would rue ever having loved.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 799

Headnote: "Sent to the Hanazono Minister of the Left"
Sent to Minamoto no Arihito, the Hanazono Minister of the Left. I knew it from the start, she says, that I would come to grieve enough to rue it, as one cuts the brushwood. She says she knew from the beginning that a love with the high-born Arihito would end with her abandoned and full of regret, and through the pivots of "koru," to cut wood and to rue, and "nageki," grief and firewood, she conveys the depth of her grief through images of kindling. She was called "Kaga of the Brushwood" because of this poem.
The author, "Taikenmon'in no Kaga," was a lady-in-waiting to Taikenmon'in Fujiwara no Tamako, consort of Emperor Toba. "The Hanazono Minister of the Left" in the headnote is Minamoto no Arihito, grandson of Emperor Go-Sanjō and son of Prince Sukehito, who rose to Minister of the Left.

First line, "kanete yori": "from long before, from the start."
Second line, "omoishi koto zo": "zo" is emphatic, "it is what I had thought." The poem pauses here and stands in inverted order with the lower half.
Third line, "fushishiba no": "fushishiba" is brushwood, small twigs, and it forms a preface leading through cutting brushwood into "koru" in the fourth line.
Fourth line, "koru bakari naru": "koru" pivots between cutting wood and rueing, "enough to rue it."
Fifth line, "nageki sen to wa": "nageki" pivots between "grief" and "nageki," firewood, an associated word of the brushwood. "N" is the conjectural "mu," "that I would come to grieve," returning to "omoishi koto zo" in the second line.
Author: Taikenmon'in no Kaga
Source: Senzai Wakashu
Prev Poem: Kesa towanu tsurasa ni mono wa omoishire ware mo sa koso wa uramikaneshika
Next Poem: Koishisa wa au o kagiri to kikishikado sate shimo itodo omoi soikeri