Sakidachishi hito wa yami ni ya mayouran itsu made ware mo tsuki o nagamen - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

先立ちし人は闇にや迷ふらん
いつまで我も月をながめん

Roma-ji: Sakidachishi hito wa yami ni ya mayouran itsu made ware mo tsuki o nagamen
English Translation: Those who went before,
are they wandering, I wonder,
lost in the darkness?
For how long will I as well
gaze upon this moon?
Meaning: Are those who have gone before me wandering lost in the darkness? How long will I too be able to go on gazing at the moon?
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 998

Headnote: "Composed on the theme "Seeing the moon and longing for the departed""
This poem was composed on the theme "seeing the moon and longing for the departed." Are those who went before wandering in darkness? How long will I too gaze at the moon, he asks. Gazing at the bright moon, he imagines the dead lost in the darkness of the afterlife and feels the impermanence by which he too will soon be the same. The contrast between the brightness of the moon and the darkness after death is striking.
The author, "Minamoto no Nakatsuna," was a son of Minamoto no Yorimasa. He served as governor of Izu and other posts, and in 1180 he rose in arms with his father in support of Prince Mochihito and took his own life at Uji.
It shares the theme of wandering in darkness with "mayowamu yami" in 1021 of this book.

First line, "sakidachishi": "shi" is the attributive of the past auxiliary "ki," "those who died before."
Second line, "hito wa yami ni ya": "yami" is the darkness of the world after death. "Ya" is an interrogative binding particle closing with "ran" in the third line.
Third line, "mayouran": "ran" is the auxiliary of present conjecture, "might they be wandering?" The poem pauses here. It answers "mayowamu yami no" in the fourth line of 1021 of this book.
Fourth line, "itsu made ware mo": "for how long I too," thinking that he too must die.
Fifth line, "tsuki o nagamen": "n" is the attributive of the conjectural "mu," "shall I gaze at the moon?" Darkness and moonlight are contrasted.
Author: Minamoto no Nakatsuna
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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