Uki nagara sasuga ni mono no kanashiki wa ima wa kagiri to omou narikeri - Shika Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

憂きながらさすがにものの悲しきは
今は限りと思ふなりけり

Roma-ji: Uki nagara sasuga ni mono no kanashiki wa ima wa kagiri to omou narikeri
English Translation: Though it brought me pain,
why is it that even so
I feel such sorrow?
It is because I believe
that now this is the end
Meaning: Though our love brought me only pain, I am still somehow sad — because I think that this, now, is the end.
Commentary: Book Eight Love Poems II 256

Though the love brought nothing but pain, the poet still feels sorrow at parting, and finds the reason in the thought that this is the end. The poem captures, in the form of question and answer, the mixed feelings of bitterness and grief at a parting.

The first line, "uki nagara" (though painful), uses the concessive "nagara."
The second line, "sasuga ni mono no" (yet somehow), shows the heart moving against expectation.
The third line, "kanashiki wa" (that I am sad), sets the sorrow as the topic with "wa," and the lower lines reveal its cause.
The fourth line, "ima wa kagiri to" (that now is the end), marks the decisive moment of parting.
The final line, "omou narikeri," combines the copula "nari" and exclamatory "keri," ending with the realization that this thought is the reason.
Author: Kiyohara no Motosuke
Source: Shika Wakashu
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