Tomariite matsubeki mi koso oinikere aware wakare wa hito no tame ka wa - Shika Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

とまりゐて待つべき身こそ老いにけれ
あはれ別れは人のためかは

Roma-ji: Tomariite matsubeki mi koso oinikere aware wakare wa hito no tame ka wa
English Translation: Left behind to wait,
it is I who have grown old,
I who must await;
ah, is parting, after all,
meant only for those who go?
Meaning: It is I, staying behind and bound to wait for your return, who have grown old. Ah, is parting something that belongs only to the one who leaves? No, it weighs most on the one left behind.
Commentary: Book Six Parting Poems 175

Headnote: "Composed at a farewell banquet when Tachibana no Norimitsu went down as governor of Mutsu."
A poem composed for the send-off of Tachibana no Norimitsu, who was leaving to govern Mutsu. The poet, who ought to wait for the day he returns at the end of his term, is already old and cannot be sure of meeting him again. The sorrow of parting, the poem insists, is not the traveler's alone but deepest for the aging one left behind.
The author is not named in the source text, but in the text of this anthology the poem is attributed to Fujiwara no Sukemasa. Norimitsu is also known as one who was once married to Sei Shonagon.

First line, "tomariite" (remaining behind), sets the departing Norimitsu against the poet who stays.
Second line, "matsubeki mi koso": "beki" expresses obligation, and "koso" agrees with "kere" in the third line. Poem 177 in this book also has "matsubeki mi koso," so two poems about an aging one who must await a traveler's return stand close together.
Third line, "oinikere": "ni" is perfective and "kere" is the exclamatory past in the form that concludes "koso." The poem breaks after this line.
Fourth line, "aware wakare wa": "aware" is an exclamation, taking up parting itself as the object of lament.
Final line, "hito no tame ka wa": the rhetorical "ka wa" means "is parting for the traveler's sake? Surely not," and the poem closes by stressing the depth of grief of the one who stays.
Source: Shika Wakashu
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