Omoine no yume ni nagusamu koi nareba awanedo kure no sora zo mataruru - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

思ひ寝の夢に慰む恋なれば
逢はねど暮れの空ぞ待たるる

Roma-ji: Omoine no yume ni nagusamu koi nareba awanedo kure no sora zo mataruru
English Translation: Since mine is a love
consoled by dreams that come when
I sleep longing for you,
though we do not meet, the sky
at dusk is what I wait for
Meaning: Since mine is a love consoled only by the dreams that come when I fall asleep thinking of you, though we cannot meet, I find myself waiting for the evening sky.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 898

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed on the heart of love at a poetry contest held at the house of the Regent when he was Minister of the Right"
Like the preceding poem, it was composed on the heart of love at the poetry contest held at the house of Fujiwara no Kanezane when he was Minister of the Right. Since mine is a love consoled by dreams of sleeping in longing, she says, though we do not meet, I find myself waiting for the evening sky. Though it is a love that cannot meet in reality, if she sleeps thinking of the beloved she can meet him in a dream, and so, waiting for night in order to dream, she finds herself longing even for the sun to set; the poem conveys the poignancy of a love that relies on dreams. Its ingenuity lies in recasting the evening, properly the time of waiting for a lover's visit, as the time of waiting for night in order to dream.
The author, "Tango of the Regent's household," was Gishūmon'in no Tango. The daughter of Minamoto no Yoriyuki, she served in the house of Kujō Kanezane and was called Tango of the Regent's household, and later served Kanezane's daughter Gishūmon'in, Ninshi.
It is a love poem from the same poetry contest as the preceding poem, 897. Where the preceding poem sings of waiting into lives to come, this one sings of waiting for nightfall. Poem 873 in this book ends on "yūgure no sora" and 884 on "akekure no sora," so that poems singing of the evening sky are placed through the book. Together with 876 and 899, it is also a poem singing of meetings in dreams.

First line, "omoine no": "omoine" is sleeping while thinking of one's beloved.
Second line, "yume ni nagusamu": "nagusamu" means for the heart to be eased, "consoled by dreams."
Third line, "koi nareba": "ba" gives a fixed condition, "since it is a love."
Fourth line, "awanedo kure no": "ne" is the perfective of the negative "zu" and "do" adversative, "though we do not meet." Like "yūgure no sora" in 873 and "akekure no sora" in 884 in this book, it sings of the evening sky.
Fifth line, "sora zo mataruru": "zo" is an emphatic particle that binds with the attributive "ruru." "Ruru" is the attributive of the spontaneous auxiliary "ru," "I find myself waiting." Like "matsu beki o" in the third line of the preceding poem, 897, it sings of "waiting."
Author: Gishumon-in no Tango
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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