Ukiyo to shi omowade mo mi no suginikeru tsuki no kage ni mo nazusawaritsutsu

憂き世とし思はでも身の過ぎにける
月の影にもなづさはりつつ

Roma-ji: Ukiyo to shi omowade mo mi no suginikeru tsuki no kage ni mo nazusawaritsutsu
English Translation: Never thinking it
a world of sorrow, this self
has passed its days by,
all the while growing close
to the moon and to its light.
Meaning: Without ever thinking it a sorrowful world, I have let my life slip by, all the while growing close to the light of the moon.
Commentary: One Hundred Poems 1506

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Ten Poems of Reflection"
The fourth of the ten poems of reflection. Without dwelling on the world as sorrowful, and growing close to the moonlight, he finds the years have passed him by.
It voices the feeling that, while spending his days with the moon as companion, the years flowed away without his even despising the world. As though answering 1481 among the moon poems, which resolved not to think of the world only as sorrowful, this one looks back on days spent without such thoughts.

First line, “ukiyo to shi”: shi is an emphatic particle, "as a world of sorrow."
Second line, “omowade mo mi no”: de is a negative conjunctive, "without thinking so, my self."
Third line, “suginikeru”: nikeru marks completion and exclamation, "has passed by"; the poem breaks here.
Fourth line, “tsuki no kage ni mo”: to the moonlight as well.
Fifth line, “nazusawaritsutsu”: nazusawaru is to grow familiar, "all the while growing close," in inversion.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
Prev Poem: Tsuki ni ikade mukashi no koto o katarasete kage ni soitsutsu tachi mo hanareji
Next Poem: Kumo ni tsukite ukare nomi yuku kokoro o ba yama ni kakete o tomen to zo omou