Obotsukana nani no mukui no kaerikite kokoro semuru ada to naruran

おぼつかな何の報いの帰り来て
心責むるあだとなるらん

Roma-ji: Obotsukana nani no mukui no kaerikite kokoro semuru ada to naruran
English Translation: How it troubles me!
of what deed is it the return
that has come back round,
to become this enemy
that torments my heart so?
Meaning: How troubling it is! For what deed of a former life has this retribution come back round to become the foe that torments my heart?
Commentary: Love Poems 678

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Love"
The pain of love that so torments his heart, the poet asks, is it the retribution of some deed in a former life, come back to him as an enemy? The poem draws on the Buddhist idea of karmic recompense, seeking the cause of love's pain in the bonds of a previous life.
667 in this book also sings of retribution, there coming round to the beloved, here coming back to the poet himself, so that the direction of the recompense is reversed.

First line, “obotsukana”: the stem of obotsukanashi, anxious, used as an exclamation; the poem breaks after the first line.
Second line, “nani no mukui no”: mukui is the result received for deeds in a former life.
Third line, “kaerikite”: coming back round.
Fourth line, “kokoro semuru”: tormenting the heart.
Fifth line, “ada to naruran”: ada is an enemy, and ran conjecture about a cause: has it become my foe?
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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