Omou koto nakute sugushishi ototoi o kinō to kyō ni nasu yoshi mo gana - Izumi Shikibu Nikki(English Translation & Meaning)

思ふ事なくて過しゝおとゝひを
昨日とけふになすよしも哉

Roma-ji: Omou koto nakute sugushishi ototoi o kinō to kyō ni nasu yoshi mo gana
English Translation: The day before yesterday,
which I passed without a care—
if only there were
some way to make it yesterday
and today as well
Meaning: If only there were a way to turn the day before yesterday, which I passed without a care, into yesterday and today as well.
Commentary: 36 Lingering after the Retreat

Because of an abstinence that required him to change his lodging, the prince was staying in a secluded place, and his usual carriage came for Izumi Shikibu. She went, thinking that now she would simply do whatever he said. They talked at their ease whether waking or lying down, and her idleness was so diverted that she longed all the more to go to his residence. When the abstinence ended she returned to her own house, but today she remembered him with more longing than usual and felt she could hardly bear it.
The woman is Izumi Shikibu, daughter of Ōe no Masamune and, as the wife of Tachibana no Michisada, Governor of Izumi, mother of Koshikibu no Naishi. The Prince of the Dazaifu is Prince Atsumichi, fourth son of Emperor Reizei, so called because he served as Governor-General of the Dazaifu. A day of abstinence was a period of staying shut indoors and keeping oneself pure in order to avoid misfortune, according to the art of yin and yang.
When Izumi Shikibu's "Tsurezure to kyō kazoureba toshitsuki ni kinō zo mono wa omowazarikeru" arrived, the prince was moved and sent back this poem.
After the poem he added, "So I think, but it is useless. Do make up your mind." Yet she felt too shy to decide easily and passed the days simply lost in thought.

The opening lines mean "which I spent without a care," with a verb of doing and a past-tense auxiliary. The third line, "the day before yesterday," refers to the day of abstinence they spent together.
The lower verses mean "if only there were a way to make it yesterday and today," where "yoshi" means a means or way, ending in a particle of wishing. To her poem saying that only "yesterday" was free of sorrow, he replies that for him it was the day before, shifting the day by one, and wishes that happy day could continue into yesterday and today, expressing his longing for them to live together.
Author: Prince Atsumichi
Source: Izumi Shikibu Nikki
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