Kono yo o ba kumo no hayashi ni kadode shite keburi to naran yūbe o zo matsu - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

この世をば雲の林に門出して
煙とならん夕べをぞ待つ

Roma-ji: Kono yo o ba kumo no hayashi ni kadode shite keburi to naran yūbe o zo matsu
English Translation: From this world of ours,
here in the Grove of Clouds
I make my departure,
and wait for the evening when
I shall turn into smoke
Meaning: Setting out from this world here at the Grove of Clouds, I await the evening when I shall become smoke.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1124

Headnote: "Sent when someone came to inquire after me while I had fallen ill and moved to a place called Urin'in"
When he had fallen ill and moved to a place called Urin'in, someone came to see him, and he sent this poem in thanks. Making my departure from this world at the Grove of Clouds, I await the evening when I become smoke, he says. Rendering the name Urin'in as "the Grove of Clouds," he treats his move to the temple while ill as a departure from this world, and tells his visitor that he calmly awaits the evening when he will rise as cremation smoke into the clouds, revealing a heart prepared for death.
The author, "the monk Ryōzen," was a monk of the mid-Heian period known as a poet, whose biography is not known in detail.
Where 1091 and 1092 of this book sing of smoke rising from a hut, this poem sings of the poet himself becoming cremation smoke.

First line, "kono yo o ba": "this world," speaking of departure from it.
Second line, "kumo no hayashi ni": a rendering of the name Urin'in in native words, "the Grove of Clouds." It is linked with "smoke" in the fourth line.
Third line, "kadode shite": "making a departure," setting out from this world.
Fourth line, "keburi to naran": "when I shall become cremation smoke." It shares smoke with "tatsu keburi" in 1091 and 1092 of this book.
Fifth line, "yūbe o zo matsu": "zo" is an emphatic binding particle closing with the attributive "matsu."
Author: Ryōzen
Source: Senzai Wakashu
Prev Poem: Yume to nomi kono yo no koto no miyuru kana samubeki hodo wa itsu to nakeredo
Next Poem: Uki koto no madoromu hodo wa wasurarete samureba yume no kokochi koso sure