Au to mishi sono yo nori no samete are na nagaki nemuri wa ukaru bekeredo

逢ふと見しその夜のりのさめてあれな
長き眠りは憂かるべけれど

Roma-ji: Au to mishi sono yo nori no samete are na nagaki nemuri wa ukaru bekeredo
English Translation: That night I dreamed
I met you—may that dream
never end in waking,
though the long sleep it would bring
must surely be a bitter thing.
Meaning: May the dream of that night when I saw us meet never end in waking—though the long sleep it would become must surely be bitter.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 1350

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "One hundred and ten love poems"
The last of the one hundred and ten love poems. May the dream of that night when he saw himself meeting his beloved never end, the poet says, though the long sleep of death would be bitter.
He wishes the dream meeting would never end, even if it meant death, the ultimate wish of love. The second line in the text, "sono yo nori no sa," is hard to construe and is taken as "the dream of that night." Nagaki nemuri, "long sleep," also echoes the Buddhist "long night's sleep" of delusion, closing the love sequence with a thought of the sleep of ignorance.

First line, “au to mishi”: in which I saw us meet.
Second line, “sono yo nori no”: following the text, hard to construe, taken as "of that night's dream."
Third line, “samete are na”: as written, "samete are na," but read from context as "may it not wake"; na expresses a wish, and the poem breaks here.
Fourth line, “nagaki nemuri wa”: the long sleep, death, echoing the Buddhist long night's sleep.
Fifth line, “ukaru bekeredo”: though it must be bitter.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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