Izuku ni ka nemuri nemurite taore fusan to omou kanashiki michishiba no tsuyu

いづくにか眠り眠りて倒れ伏さんと
思ふ悲しき道芝の露

Roma-ji: Izuku ni ka nemuri nemurite taore fusan to omou kanashiki michishiba no tsuyu
English Translation: Somewhere, I suppose,
drowsing, drowsing on my way,
I will fall and lie,
and how sad to think of it,
dew upon the wayside grass.
Meaning: Somewhere, I suppose, I will drowse and drowse and fall down dead by the road; how sad to think it, I who am like the dew on the wayside grass.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 844

Headnote: "From among the many poems on impermanence that I composed"
This is one of the many poems on impermanence the poet composed, and poems on impermanence continue from here to 851. Somewhere on the road, drowsing on, I will fall and lie dead, and how sad to think of it, like dew on the wayside grass, he says, likening the end of a wanderer to roadside dew.

First line, “izuku ni ka”: ka is a question particle; somewhere.
Second line, “nemuri nemurite”: sleeping on and on, death likened to sleep.
Third line, “taore fusan to”: that I will fall and lie; a line of eight syllables.
Fourth line, “omou kanashiki”: how sad to think it.
Fifth line, “michishiba no tsuyu”: ending on a noun, dew on the wayside grass as a figure for a fleeting self.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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