Hakanashi ya ada ni inochi no tsuyu kiete nobe ni waga mi ya okuri okuran

はかなしやあだに命の露消えて
野辺に我が身や送りおくらん

Roma-ji: Hakanashi ya ada ni inochi no tsuyu kiete nobe ni waga mi ya okuri okuran
English Translation: How fleeting it is!
When in vain the dew of life
has vanished away,
to the fields will they take me,
carry me out and leave me there?
Meaning: How fleeting it is! When the dew of my life has vanished in vain, will they carry this body of mine out to the fields and leave it there?
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 764

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
How fleeting it is: the dew of life will vanish in vain, and will this body too be carried to the fields and left there? Likening life to easily vanishing dew, the poet pictures his own funeral and laments impermanence.

First line, “hakanashi ya”: ya is exclamatory, how fleeting; the poem breaks here.
Second line, “ada ni inochi no”: ada ni is in vain, transiently.
Third line, “tsuyu kiete”: life likened to dew vanishing.
Fourth line, “nobe ni waga mi ya”: nobe is the fields of burial; the question particle ya is answered by ran in the fifth line.
Fifth line, “okuri okuran”: oku, to leave in the fields, is a word related to the dew, which is also said to oku, settle.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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