Omoiki ya ukarishi yowa no tori no ne o matsu koto ni shite akasu beshi to wa - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

思ひきや憂かりし夜半の鳥の音を
待つことにして明かすべしとは

Roma-ji: Omoiki ya ukarishi yowa no tori no ne o matsu koto ni shite akasu beshi to wa
English Translation: Could I have thought it?
that the cock's crow in the night,
once so hard to bear,
I'd lie waiting to hear,
passing the night till dawn
Meaning: Could I have imagined it? That the cock's crow in the night, once so hateful to me, I should now lie waiting for as I pass the night till dawn.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 894

Headnote: "Composed on the topic 'love that met and then met no more'"
This poem was composed on the topic "love that met and then met no more." Could I have thought, he says, that the cock's crow in the night, once so bitter, I should wait for as I pass the night till dawn? When he was meeting his beloved, the cock's crow announcing the hour of parting was painful, but now that they cannot meet, he waits for it, longing for the long night of sleeping alone to end, and through this change of feeling toward the same crowing he conveys grief at being unable to meet.
The author, "Shun'e Hōshi," was the son of Minamoto no Toshiyori. He became a monk of Tōdaiji, named his residence at Shirakawa the Karin'en, gathered many poets there and held poetry gatherings and contests.
Poem 866 in this book also begins with "omoiki ya" and sings of an unexpected turn of love. It is on the same topic, "love that met and then met no more," as 850 and 890 in this book.

First line, "omoiki ya": "ki" is the past auxiliary and "ya" a rhetorical particle, "did I ever think it? no, never." The poem pauses here and stands in inverted order with the lines that follow. It is the same first line as 866 in this book.
Second line, "ukarishi yowa no": "ukarishi" means "which was painful," pointing to the pain of parting at dawn when they were meeting. "Yowa" is the depth of night.
Third line, "tori no ne o": "tori" is the cock, which announces the dawn and tells lovers it is time to part.
Fourth line, "matsu koto ni shite": "as something to wait for, longing for it." Set against "ukarishi" in the second line, it shows his present state of being unable to meet.
Fifth line, "akasu beshi to wa": "akasu" is to pass the night till dawn, and "beshi" an auxiliary of what must be, of fate, "that I should come to pass the night so." It closes by returning to "omoiki ya" in the first line.
Author: Shun'e
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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