Aware aware kono yo wa yoshi ya sa mo araba are komu yo mo kaku ya kurushikaru beki

あはれあはれこの世はよしやさもあらばあれ
来む世もかくや苦しかるべき

Roma-ji: Aware aware kono yo wa yoshi ya sa mo araba are komu yo mo kaku ya kurushikaru beki
English Translation: Ah, alas, alas,
this world, let it go its way,
let it be what it will,
but the next, will it also
be as painful as is this?
Meaning: Ah, alas, let this world go its way, let it be what it will; but will the life to come be just as painful as this?
Commentary: Love Poems 710

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Love"
Crying 'ah, ah,' the poet abandons this world where he suffers in love: let it be what it will, so be it. And yet, he asks, will the life to come be just as painful? Resigned to the pain of love in this life, he fears that the attachment may reach into the next. In the irregular rhythm, with extra syllables in the first and third lines, an uncontainable grief overflows.
Following the preceding poem's likening of tears to the River of Three Crossings, this one too sings of suffering in the next life, and near the end of the love section the pain of love deepens into fear of the life to come.

First line, “aware aware”: aware is a cry of grief, ah, ah; the line has six syllables, one too many.
Second line, “kono yo wa yoshi ya”: kono yo is this world, and yoshi ya expresses reckless resignation: let it be what it will.
Third line, “sa mo araba are”: so be it, come what may; the line has seven syllables instead of five. The poem breaks after the third line.
Fourth line, “komu yo mo kaku ya”: komu yo is the life to come, paired with kono yo in the second line; the particle ya marks a question and binds with the attributive beki at the end.
Fifth line, “kurushikaru beki”: will it be painful? closing in the attributive form answering ya.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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