Ika ni sen komu yo no ama to naru hodo mo mirume katakute suguru urami o

いかにせん来む世の海人となるほども
みるめ難くて過ぐるうらみを

Roma-ji: Ika ni sen komu yo no ama to naru hodo mo mirume katakute suguru urami o
English Translation: What am I to do?
even till in the next life
I am born a fisherman,
with no seaweed, no sight of you,
I pass on in this resentment.
Meaning: What am I to do with this resentment, passing my days with no chance to see you, like a fisherman who finds no seaweed, even until I am reborn as one in the life to come?
Commentary: Love Poems 708

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Love"
Even in a future life, so far ahead that he would be reborn as a fisherman, the poet will pass his days unable to meet his beloved, as a fisherman unable to gather mirume seaweed. What is he to do, he asks, with such resentment? Mirume joins the seaweed with mirume, a chance to see the beloved, and urami joins resentment with ura-mi, looking at the bay, so that through the fisherman's world he sings of the resentment of a love unmet even into the next life.

First line, “ika ni sen”: what am I to do? The poem breaks after the first line.
Second line, “komu yo no ama to”: komu yo is the life to come, the next rebirth, and ama a fisherman of the sea.
Third line, “naru hodo mo”: even until I become one.
Fourth line, “mirume katakute”: mirume is a pivot word joining mirume seaweed with a chance to see the beloved, associated with the fisherman.
Fifth line, “suguru urami o”: urami is a pivot word joining resentment with ura-mi, looking at the bay; this returns in inversion to the first line.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
Prev Poem: Aki fukaki nobe no kusaba ni kurabebaya mono omou koro no sode no shiratsuyu
Next Poem: Mono omou to namida ya yagate Mitsusegawa hito o shizumuru fuchi to naruran