Karakuni ni shizumishi hito mo waga gotoku miyo made awanu nageki o zo seshi - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

唐国に沈みし人も我がごとく
三代まで逢はぬ嘆きをぞせし

Roma-ji: Karakuni ni shizumishi hito mo waga gotoku miyo made awanu nageki o zo seshi
English Translation: The man of old Cathay
sunk low in fortune, too,
just the same as I,
knew the grief of three long reigns
when his time never came
Meaning: The man in China who was sunk in obscurity, too, felt just as I do the grief of serving three reigns without his time ever coming.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1025

Headnote: "Composed on the theme of expressing one's feelings when I presented a hundred-poem sequence in the reign of Emperor Horikawa"
This poem was composed on the theme of personal grievance when he presented a hundred-poem sequence in the reign of Emperor Horikawa. The man in China who sank low also grieved as I do, unmet by his time through three reigns, he says. Drawing on the story of Yan Si of Han, who served three emperors yet was never promoted because each time he failed to suit the emperor's taste, he laments his own misfortune by setting it beside that of a man of old.
The author, "Fujiwara no Motoyū," is Fujiwara no Mototoshi. The original has "Motoyū," but since he was a poet of the Horikawa hundred-poem sequences and the next poem is Mototoshi's poem in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, it is taken to be an error for Mototoshi. Mototoshi was a son of Fujiwara no Toshiie and a grandson of Minister of the Right Fujiwara no Yorimune. Though not favored in rank, he was a leading figure of the poetic world, ranked alongside Minamoto no Toshiyori. A poem of his is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
Taking up "shizumi nagara ni" in the preceding poem, 1024, this poem sings of "shizumishi hito," and against the preceding poem's "four reigns" it sings of misfortune through "three reigns."

First line, "Karakuni ni": "in China," referring to the story of Yan Si of Han.
Second line, "shizumishi hito mo": "shi" is the attributive of the past auxiliary "ki," "the man who sank in misfortune." It answers "shizumi nagara ni" in the second line of the preceding poem, 1024.
Third line, "waga gotoku": "just as I."
Fourth line, "miyo made awanu": "unmet by his time through three reigns." It answers "yoyo" and "four reigns" in the preceding poem.
Fifth line, "nageki o zo seshi": the emphatic binding particle "zo" closes with "shi," the attributive of the past auxiliary "ki," "he knew such grief."
Author: Fujiwara no Mototoshi
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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