Mi no usa o omoishirade ya yaminamashi aiminu saki no tsurasa nariseba - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

身の憂さを思ひ知らでややみなまし
逢ひ見ぬ先のつらさなりせば

Roma-ji: Mi no usa o omoishirade ya yaminamashi aiminu saki no tsurasa nariseba
English Translation: Would I have ended
without knowing what a wretched
lot I have been dealt—
if this had only been the pain
of before we ever met?
Meaning: Would I have ended without ever knowing how wretched my lot is—had this been only the pain of the time before we met?
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 896

Headnote: "Composed as a love poem"
This poem was composed as a love poem. Would I have ended without knowing the wretchedness of my lot, he says, had this been the pain of before we met? Had it been only the pain of before meeting, when she was merely cold, he would never have learned how poor his lot is; it is because he was abandoned after they had met once that he has been made to know his ill fortune so keenly, and the poem conveys the pain of love after meeting.
The author, "Hōin Jōken," was the son of Junior Counselor Fujiwara no Michinori. He became a monk, rose to the clerical rank of Hōin, and was also known as a close attendant of Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa.

First line, "mi no usa o": "usa" is pain, ill fortune, pointing to his own poor destiny.
Second line, "omoishirade ya": "de" is a negative conjunctive particle and "ya" an interrogative particle, "without knowing it." It binds with the attributive "mashi" in the third line.
Third line, "yaminamashi": "yamu" is to end, "na" the irrealis of the completive "nu," and "mashi" the counterfactual auxiliary, "would I have ended so." The poem pauses here and stands in inverted order with the lower half.
Fourth line, "aiminu saki no": "of before we met, before we were lovers."
Fifth line, "tsurasa nariseba": "seba" is a counterfactual condition, "had it been the pain." Answering "mashi" in the third line, it closes by implying that in truth it is the pain of after meeting.
Author: Jōken
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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