Aimimu to omoishi koto o tagaureba tsuraki kata ni mo sadametsuru kana - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

相見むと思ひしことをたがふれば
つらきかたにも定めつるかな

Roma-ji: Aimimu to omoishi koto o tagaureba tsuraki kata ni mo sadametsuru kana
English Translation: Since what I had hoped,
that we two would come to meet,
has been turned aside,
I have set this very quarter
down as one that brings me pain
Meaning: Because my wish to meet you went awry, I have come to fix this quarter, where you came to turn aside, as a direction of sorrow.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 968

Headnote: "Sent when the daughter of a person I was curious about, who had a connection with the room of one of my ladies, came secretly to avoid an unlucky direction and left early at dawn"
The daughter of someone she had been curious to meet, having a connection with one of her ladies' rooms, came secretly to the Kamo Priestess's residence to avoid an unlucky direction, but left early at dawn, and this poem was sent to her. Since my wish to meet you went astray, I have fixed this as a painful quarter, she says. Drawing on the custom of avoiding unlucky directions, she lets "tagau" and "kata" echo that custom and conveys with wit her disappointment at the guest who left without meeting her.
The author, "Princess Senshi," was a daughter of Emperor Murakami. For fifty-seven years, through five reigns from Emperor En'yū to Emperor Go-Ichijō, she served as Kamo Priestess and was called the Great Priestess. Her residence was known as a cultural center of poetry and tales.
The next poem, 969, is by a lady who served Princess Senshi, so that poems connected with the Great Priestess stand together.

First line, "aimimu to": "mu" is the volitional auxiliary, "wishing to meet."
Second line, "omoishi koto o": "shi" is the attributive of the past auxiliary "ki," "what I had thought."
Third line, "tagaureba": "tagau" means to go contrary, not to go as wished, echoing "tagae" in "katatagae," avoiding a direction. "Ba" expresses a fixed condition, "since it went awry."
Fourth line, "tsuraki kata ni mo": "kata" is a pivot word meaning both direction and state of things, "as a painful quarter."
Fifth line, "sadametsuru kana": "tsuru" is the attributive of the perfective "tsu" and "kana" exclamatory, "I have come to fix it so."
Author: Princess Senshi
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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