Hakanaku zo nochi no yo made to chigirikeru madaki ni dani mo kawaru kokoro o - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

はかなくぞ後の世までと契りける
まだきにだにも変はる心を

Roma-ji: Hakanaku zo nochi no yo made to chigirikeru madaki ni dani mo kawaru kokoro o
English Translation: How vain it was, that
we pledged ourselves even
to the world to come,
when even now, before its time,
the heart has already changed
Meaning: How vain it was to pledge ourselves even for the world to come, when the heart has changed already, before that time has even come.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Love Poems V 934

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed as a love poem"
Composed as a love poem, like the three preceding ones. How vain it was, he says, to pledge ourselves until the next world, when the heart changes even before its time. They vowed to stay unchanged into the next life, yet the beloved's heart has changed already, within this very life, and he laments the emptiness of the vow.
The author, "Koremune no Hirokoto," was the son of Koremune no Motokoto, Governor of Hyūga. He came of a family that served as officials of the Dazaifu and later became Governor of Chikugo. One of the poets who gathered at Shun'e's Karin'en, he also excelled at imayō songs and served Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa. He compiled the private anthology Kotoba Shū.
Like poem 921 of this book, "hakanaku mo komu yo o kanete chigiru kana," it opens with "hakanaku" and sings of the vanity of vows reaching into the next life. Where 921 finds the vanity in the fact that we cannot be the same selves in the next life, this poem finds it in a heart that changes even within this life, treating the same theme from another direction.

First line, "hakanaku zo": "hakanaku" means "in vain," and the emphatic "zo" closes with the attributive "keru" in the third line. It shares its wording with "hakanaku mo" in the first line of 921 of this book.
Second line, "nochi no yo made to": "nochi no yo" is the next life. Like "komu yo o kanete" in the second line of 921, it speaks of the world to come.
Third line, "chigirikeru": "keru," the attributive of the past "keri," closes the "zo" of the first line, "we pledged." The poem pauses here and stands in inverted order with the lines that follow.
Fourth line, "madaki ni dani mo": "madaki" means "early, before its time," and "dani" names a lesser thing to imply a greater, "even within this life, let alone the next."
Fifth line, "kawaru kokoro o": "o" is a final particle carrying an adversative sigh, "though it is a heart that changes." Like 926 and 927 of this book, it sings of a change of heart.
Author: Koremune no Hirokoto
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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