Tomoshibi no kakage chikara mo naku narite tomaru hikari o matsu waga mi kana

灯火のかかげ力もなくなりて
とまる光を待つ我が身かな

Roma-ji: Tomoshibi no kakage chikara mo naku narite tomaru hikari o matsu waga mi kana
English Translation: The lamp's dwindling flame—
I no longer have the strength
to trim and raise its wick;
and for the last glimmer's end
this body of mine now waits.
Meaning: I no longer have the strength to trim the wick of the lamp, and I am one who only waits for its last remaining light to go out.
Commentary: One Hundred Poems 1517

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Ten Poems on Impermanence"
The fifth of the ten poems on impermanence. With no strength left to trim the wick and brighten the lamp, he waits only for the lingering light to go out.
It overlays his own aging self, waiting for life to end, on a lamp about to burn out. The loss of strength to raise the wick gives concrete form to the decline of age.

First line, “tomoshibi no”: of the lamp.
Second line, “kakage chikara mo”: kakagu is to trim and raise the wick, "the strength to raise it."
Third line, “naku narite”: having gone.
Fourth line, “tomaru hikari o”: the last light that lingers.
Fifth line, “matsu waga mi kana”: kana marks exclamation, "this self that waits for it to end."
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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