Au to mishi sono yo no yume no samede are na nagaki nemuri wa ukaru bekeredo - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

逢ふと見しその夜の夢の覚めであれな
長き眠りは憂かるべけれど

Roma-ji: Au to mishi sono yo no yume no samede are na nagaki nemuri wa ukaru bekeredo
English Translation: The dream of that night
when I saw that we had met—
would it had not ended,
though a sleep that lasts so long
must be a bitter thing
Meaning: Would that the dream of that night, in which I saw us meet, had never ended—though a sleep that lasts forever must surely be a bitter thing.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 876

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Would that the dream of that night in which I saw us meet had not ended, he says, though a long sleep must be a bitter thing. From the joy of at last meeting the beloved in a dream, he wishes never to wake from it, yet reflects that a long sleep without waking means death, and that this must be painful. The anguish of a love that cannot meet in reality takes the form of a wish that does not shrink even from death.
The author, "En'i Hōshi," was Saigyō. His lay name was Satō Norikiyo; he served as a warrior of the north guard of Retired Emperor Toba but took the tonsure young and composed many poems as he traveled the provinces.
Poems 898 and 899 in this book also sing of meetings in dreams, so that love poems seeking comfort in dreams are placed through the book.

First line, "au to mishi": "in which I dreamed I met my beloved." "Shi" is the attributive of the past "ki."
Second line, "sono yo no yume no": "the dream of that night," with "no" marking the subject.
Third line, "samede are na": "de" is a negative conjunctive particle and "na" a particle of wish, "would that it had not ended." The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "nagaki nemuri wa": "nagaki nemuri," a sleep from which one never wakes, hints at death. Taking up the not waking from the dream in the third line, it recasts it as a long sleep.
Fifth line, "ukaru bekeredo": "bekere" is the perfective of the auxiliary of conjecture "beshi," and "do" adversative, "though it must be painful." It closes on the conflict between dread of death and still not wishing to wake from the dream.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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