Toe kashi na nasake wa hito no mi no tame o uki ware tote mo kokoro ya wa naki

訪へかしな情けは人の身のためを
憂き我とても心やはなき

Roma-ji: Toe kashi na nasake wa hito no mi no tame o uki ware tote mo kokoro ya wa naki
English Translation: Do come and visit!
Kindness is for the good
of the one who gives it—
even I, so full of sorrow,
how could I have no heart?
Meaning: Please come and visit me! Kindness benefits the one who gives it, after all. Even I, wretched as I am, surely have a heart.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 1285

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "One hundred and ten love poems"
Do come to visit, the poet urges; kindness benefits the giver too, and even I, wretched as I am, am not without a heart.
Drawing on the idea that kindness is not for others alone, he urges the beloved to visit. The lower lines plead that, however lowly, he still has a heart that loves.

First line, “toe kashi na”: kashi presses the point and na exclaims, "do come visit"; the poem breaks after the first line.
Second line, “nasake wa hito no”: kindness, of the one who gives it.
Third line, “mi no tame o”: o is concessive, "though it is for one's own good."
Fourth line, “uki ware tote mo”: even I in my wretchedness.
Fifth line, “kokoro ya wa naki”: ya wa is rhetorical, "have I no heart? I do."
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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