Sa wa to iite koromo kaeshite uchifusedo me no awaba ya wa yume mo miru beki

さはと言ひて衣返してうち臥せど
目の合はばやは夢も見るべき

Roma-ji: Sa wa to iite koromo kaeshite uchifusedo me no awaba ya wa yume mo miru beki
English Translation: 'Then so be it,' I say,
and turning my robe inside out
I lie down, and yet
if my eyes would only close,
then might I dream of you!
Meaning: Saying 'so be it,' I turn my robe inside out and lie down, yet how could I dream when my eyes will not even close?
Commentary: Love Poems 701

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Love"
Resolving then to meet the beloved in a dream, the poet lies down with his robe turned inside out, following the charm said to bring a lover into one's dreams. Yet his eyes will not close in the brooding of love, and since he cannot sleep, how could he dream? The folk belief that wearing one's night robe inside out brings a dream of the beloved appears also in a poem by Ono no Komachi in the Kokinshū.
Following the preceding poem's resolve to rely on meeting in dreams, this one laments that he cannot even dream because he cannot sleep, so the two poems run on from one to the other.

First line, “sa wa to iite”: sa wa is then, resolving to meet in a dream as the preceding poem intended; the line has six syllables, one too many.
Second line, “koromo kaeshite”: turning the robe inside out, a charm to dream of the beloved.
Third line, “uchifusedo”: though I lie down, leading concessively into the lower verse.
Fourth line, “me no awaba ya wa”: if my eyes would close; ya wa is rhetorical and binds with the attributive beki at the end.
Fifth line, “yume mo miru beki”: could I then dream? I cannot; closing in the attributive form answering ya wa.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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