Yume samen sono akatsuki o matsu hodo no yami o mo terase nori no tomoshibi - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

夢覚めんその暁を待つほどの
闇をも照らせ法の灯火

Roma-ji: Yume samen sono akatsuki o matsu hodo no yami o mo terase nori no tomoshibi
English Translation: Till I wake from the dream
and that dawn at last arrives,
while I wait for it,
light up the darkness as well,
O lamp of the Buddha's Law
Meaning: O lamp of the Law, shine even into the darkness I must pass while I wait for the dawn when I shall wake from this dream.
Commentary: Book Nineteen Buddhist Poems 1210

Headnote: "Left written on something when, during my purification for a pilgrimage to Mitake, I copied the Lotus Sutra in gold and was setting out to dedicate it on that holy mountain, perhaps with some thought in my heart; having gone on the pilgrimage, he died on that mountain, and afterward this poem was found at his home, so it is said"
During the period of purification before a pilgrimage to Kinpusen, the poet copied the Lotus Sutra in gold ink, and as he set out to dedicate it on the holy mountain, perhaps moved by some premonition, he wrote this poem on something and left it behind. He went on the pilgrimage and died on that mountain, and afterward the poem was found at his home. O lamp of the Law, light even the darkness while I wait for the dawn when I wake from the dream, he says. The dawn calls to mind the time when Maitreya will appear in the world to save all beings, and he prays that the light of the Lotus Sutra will shine through the long darkness until then; read with the headnote, its seeming premonition of death is deeply moving.
The author, "Fujiwara no Atsuie Ason," was an official of the late Heian period who, according to the headnote, died at Kinpusen while on pilgrimage there.
It shares the word "tomoshibi," lamp, with the next poem, 1211; this poem prays for the lamp of the Law to light the darkness, and the next sings of a lamp that never goes out through the Buddha's power.

First line, "yume samen": the dream is that of the deluded world, and "n" is the attributive of the conjectural "mu."
Second line, "sono akatsuki o": the dawn is the time of waking from the dream of delusion to enlightenment, calling to mind Maitreya's coming into the world. Like "akatsuki o" in the first line of 1236 in this book, it sings of waiting for the dawn when the Buddha appears.
Third line, "matsu hodo no": "of the time while I wait."
Fourth line, "yami o mo terase": the darkness is that of the deluded world, and "terase" is the imperative. The poem pauses here and, by inversion, calls out to the fifth line.
Fifth line, "nori no tomoshibi": the Buddha's Law likened to a lamp lighting the dark, closing on a noun. It answers "mada tomoshibi mo" in the fourth line of the next poem, 1211.
Author: Fujiwara no Atsuie
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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