Miru yume no suginishi kata o sasoikite samuru makura mo mukashi nariseba - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

見る夢の過ぎにし方を誘ひ来て
覚むる枕も昔なりせば

Roma-ji: Miru yume no suginishi kata o sasoikite samuru makura mo mukashi nariseba
English Translation: If the dream I see
would lead back here with it
the days that have passed,
and the pillow where I wake
were also as it was of old...
Meaning: If the dream I see would draw the past back here with it, and the pillow I wake on were still as it was long ago...
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1153

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
If the dream I see would bring back the past, and the pillow I wake on were as it was of old, he says. In dreams one can return to the beloved past, but on waking one is pulled back to reality. If only, as the dream brought the past with it, the pillow on waking were also as it was long ago, he sings, voicing a longing for a past that will not return, leaving the lower verse unfinished for a deep lingering note.
The author, "Fujiwara no Munetaka," was a son of Provisional Middle Counselor Fujiwara no Nagakata.
It shares "mukashi," the past, with the next poem, 1154, both longing for a past grown distant. It also shares dream and waking with "samureba yume no" in the fourth line of 1125 of this book.

First line, "miru yume no": "the dream I see."
Second line, "suginishi kata o": "the days that have passed."
Third line, "sasoikite": "leading them back here."
Fourth line, "samuru makura mo": "the pillow when I wake as well." It shares "samu" with "samureba yume no" in the fourth line of 1125 of this book.
Fifth line, "mukashi nariseba": "se" is the irrealis of the past auxiliary "ki," and with "ba" it states a condition contrary to fact, "if it were as of old." The conclusion, "how glad I would be," is left unsaid, leaving a lingering note. It shares "mukashi" with "mukashi no tōku" in the fourth line of the next poem, 1154.
Author: Fujiwara no Munetaka
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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