Au koto no naki yamai nite koishinaba sasuga ni hito ya aware to omowan

逢ふ事のなき病にて恋ひ死なば
さすがに人やあはれと思はん

Roma-ji: Au koto no naki yamai nite koishinaba sasuga ni hito ya aware to omowan
English Translation: If I were to die
of the sickness of a love
where we never meet,
would she then, after all,
think of me with some pity?
Meaning: If I were to die of this lovesickness, never having met her, would she then, after all, feel some pity for me?
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 1300

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "One hundred and ten love poems"
If he were to die of the lovesickness of never meeting her, would she at last feel pity? the poet wonders.
It is a painful, sad imagining that only death might win her sympathy. In the hyperbole of dying for love lies a wish that at least after death she might know his feelings.

First line, “au koto no”: of meeting.
Second line, “naki yamai nite”: in a sickness of its absence, the inability to meet as lovesickness.
Third line, “koishinaba”: if I die of love; the irrealis with ba forms a supposition.
Fourth line, “sasuga ni hito ya”: sasuga ni means "after all"; ya questions.
Fifth line, “aware to omowan”: closing the ya construction, "would she feel pity?"
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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