Hakanashi na chiyo omoishi mukashi o mo yume no uchi nite suginikeru yo wa

はかなしな千代思ひし昔をも
夢のうちにて過ぎにける世は

Roma-ji: Hakanashi na chiyo omoishi mukashi o mo yume no uchi nite suginikeru yo wa
English Translation: How fleeting it is!
Those past days I thought would last
a thousand ages,
even they have slipped away
as in a dream—this world of ours.
Meaning: How fleeting it is—this world, where even the old days I thought would last a thousand ages have passed by as in a dream.
Commentary: One Hundred Poems 1513

Headnote: "Ten Poems on Impermanence"
The first of the ten poems on impermanence. How fleeting is this world, where even the days he thought would last a thousand years slipped by as in a dream.
It sings the lament of impermanence on realizing that time he thought eternal has passed like a dream, a fitting sentiment to open the impermanence poems. The reading line has a stray character in the second line, but the text is followed here.

First line, “hakanashi na”: na is an exclamatory particle, "how fleeting"; the poem breaks here.
Second line, “chiyo omoishi”: thought to last a thousand ages; the line has an extra syllable.
Third line, “mukashi o mo”: even those old days.
Fourth line, “yume no uchi nite”: as within a dream.
Fifth line, “suginikeru yo wa”: nikeru marks completion and past, "the world that has passed," the inversion showing what is fleeting.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
Prev Poem: Furinikeru kokoro koso nao aware nare oyobanu mi ni mo yo o omowasuru
Next Poem: Sasagani no ito ni tsuranuku tsuyu no tama o kakete kazareru yo ni koso arikere