Ima wa tote kakinasu koto no hate no o ni kokorobosoku mo narimasaru kana - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

今はとてかきなすことの果ての緒に
心細くもなりまさるかな

Roma-ji: Ima wa tote kakinasu koto no hate no o ni kokorobosoku mo narimasaru kana
English Translation: "This is the end," it says,
and at the koto's final string
as the player strums,
how ever more forlorn
my heart grows as I listen
Meaning: At the last string of the koto played as if to say "this is the end," the end too of worldly things, my heart grows ever more forlorn.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1142

Headnote: "Composed on hearing someone who had resolved to change her form play the koto on a deeply moving evening"
This poem was composed on hearing someone who had resolved to take the tonsure play the koto on a deeply moving evening. At the final string of the koto strummed as if to say "this is the end," my heart grows ever more forlorn, she says. The one about to leave the world is playing the koto as a farewell to worldly life. Hearing the sound of the last string, she feels that this person's worldly affairs too are ending here, and her own heart grows thin as she listens, entrusting the sorrow of parting to the sound of the koto.
The author, "Shikibu of the Nijō Grand Empress Dowager," was a lady who served the Nijō Grand Empress Dowager, and her biography is not known in detail.
It shares the first line "ima wa tote" with 1058 of this book, both expressing the resolve to leave the world. The text gives the third line as "hate no o ni," which does not agree with "hate no o no" in the reading line; here the text is followed.

First line, "ima wa tote": "thinking this is the end," the heart of one about to take the tonsure. It is the same first line as 1058 of this book.
Second line, "kakinasu koto no": "koto" is a pivot word joining "koto," the zither, and "koto," affairs, overlapping the koto being strummed with worldly affairs.
Third line, "hate no o ni": "at the last string of the koto," and together with "affairs" in the second line it echoes the end of worldly life.
Fourth line, "kokorobosoku mo": "forlornly," with "hososhi," thin, an associated word of the koto's strings.
Fifth line, "narimasaru kana": "how it grows ever more so," with "kana" an exclamatory final particle.
Author: Shikibu of the Nijō Grand Empress Dowager
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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