Nani to kaku kokoro o sae wa tsukusuran waga nageki nite kururu aki ka wa

なにとかく心をさへは尽くすらん
我が嘆きにて暮るる秋かは

Roma-ji: Nani to kaku kokoro o sae wa tsukusuran waga nageki nite kururu aki ka wa
English Translation: Why is it I spend
even my heart in such grief,
wearing it away?
Is it by my sighs alone
that the autumn darkens down?
Meaning: Why do I wear out even my heart like this? Is it by my sighing that autumn is drawing to its close? It is not.
Commentary: Autumn Poems 305

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When people composed ten autumn poems each"
This is the tenth poem, closing the set of ten. Why does the poet wear out his heart so in grief, when autumn is not drawing to a close because of his sighs? Through a rhetorical question he looks back on himself, spending his heart in regret for the passing autumn.
The set of ten began with the first wind of autumn, went on through flowers, insects, reed grass, deer and the moon, and closes by gazing into the poet's own heart grieving for autumn's end.

First line, “nani to kaku”: why in this way, the poet questioning himself.
Second line, “kokoro o sae wa”: sae adds, even my heart.
Third line, “tsukusuran”: ran conjectures a cause, why should I wear it out; the poem breaks after the third line.
Fourth line, “waga nageki nite”: by my own sighs, questioning in turn the cause of autumn's passing.
Fifth line, “kururu aki ka wa”: ka wa is a rhetorical ending, is it an autumn that darkens by my sighs? It is not.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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