classic waka stream

今はただ生けらぬ物に身をなして
生まれぬ後の世にも経るかな
Roma-ji

Ima wa tada ikeranu mono ni mi o nashite umarenu nochi no yo ni mo furu kana

English Translation
Now I simply count
myself among the things
that are not alive,
and live on as if in the world
after death, before rebirth
Meaning
Now I simply count myself among the things that do not live, and pass my days as if in the world after death, before I am born again.
Commentary
Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1088

Headnote: "Composed as a poem expressing my grievances at the poetry contest held at the house of the Regent when he was Minister of the Right"
This poem was composed as a poem of grievance at a poetry contest held at the house of Fujiwara no Kanezane, later regent, when he was Minister of the Right. Now I count myself among things not alive, and live as if in the world after death before rebirth, he says. Passing his days in misfortune without hope, he regards himself as already dead and says it is as if he lives in the interval before being born into the next life. It is a poem of deep resignation, looking at a self as good as dead while still alive.
The author, "Minamoto no Moromitsu," was a son of Major Counselor Minamoto no Moroyori. He was known as a poet, and his children included Minamoto no Tomochika and Kunaikyō.
Where the preceding poem, 1087, seeks a road back to the past, this one sings of living as if in the world after death before rebirth, a contrast in the direction of time between past and afterlife.

First line, "ima wa tada": "now, simply."
Second line, "ikeranu mono ni": "ikera" is the verb "iku," to live, with "ra," the irrealis of the continuative auxiliary "ri," and "nu" is the attributive of the negative "zu," "among things that are not alive."
Third line, "mi o nashite": "nasu" means to regard as such, "counting myself so."
Fourth line, "umarenu nochi no": "of the time after death, before I am reborn." Repeating the negative of "ikeranu" in the second line, it describes a self on the border of life and death. It contrasts past and afterlife with "mukashi ni kaeru" in the fourth line of the preceding poem, 1087.
Fifth line, "yo ni mo furu kana": "furu" means to pass one's time, and "kana" is an exclamatory final particle.
Author
Minamoto no Moromitsu
Source
Senzai Wakashu
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