Inochi koso onoga mono kara ukarikere areba zo hito o tsurashi to mo miru - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

命こそおのがものから憂かりけれ
あればぞ人をつらしとも見る

Roma-ji: Inochi koso onoga mono kara ukarikere areba zo hito o tsurashi to mo miru
English Translation: It is life itself,
though it is mine, that I find
most wretched of all:
only because I live
do I find him cruel
Meaning: It is life itself, though it is my own, that is wretched; it is only because I live that I find him cruel at all.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 833

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
It is life itself, she says, though it is my own, that is wretched; it is because I live that I find him cruel. Even her resentment of his coldness exists only because she is alive, and she finds the root of her resentment not in him but in her own life, a love poem driven to the edge that locates the cause of pain in one's own life.
The author, "Kōkamon'in no Owari," was a lady-in-waiting to Kōkamon'in Fujiwara no Kiyoko, consort of Emperor Sutoku. Little is known of her career.
Poem 818 of this book sings that though life goes on, what cannot bear the pain is tears, answering this poem in binding life to pain.

First line, "inochi koso": "koso" is an emphatic particle that binds with "kere" in the third line. Like "sate mo inochi wa" in the second line of 818 of this book, it sings of life.
Second line, "onoga mono kara": "mono kara" is an adversative particle, "though it is my own."
Third line, "ukarikere": "ushi" means wretched, and "kere" is the realized form of "keri" expressing realization, concluding "koso," "is wretched, I find." The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "areba zo hito o": "areba" means "because I live," and "zo" is an emphatic particle that binds with the attributive "miru" in the last line.
Fifth line, "tsurashi to mo miru": "tsurashi" means cruel, and "miru" to judge, concluding "zo," "that I find him cruel."
Author: Owari of Kōkamon'in
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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