Yoso ni mishi obana ga sue no shiratsuyu wa aru ka naki ka no waga mi narikeri - Shika Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

よそに見し尾花が末の白露は
あるかなきかの我が身なりけり

Roma-ji: Yoso ni mishi obana ga sue no shiratsuyu wa aru ka naki ka no waga mi narikeri
English Translation: The white dew upon
the tips of the pampas plumes
I once watched from afar —
so faint, there and yet not there,
it was my own self after all
Meaning: The white dew on the tips of the pampas plumes, which I once watched as something apart from me, was my own self, so faint it hardly seems to exist.
Commentary: Book Ten Miscellaneous Poems II 355

The poet realizes that the white dew on the tips of the pampas, which he once watched as having nothing to do with him, was in truth the image of his own self, ready to vanish. In the turn by which a distant scene becomes his own, he feels impermanence keenly.
Following the dew on the leaf tips of bush clover in poem 353, it overlays dew on the tips of grasses with the frailty of life. Where poems 349 and 350 asked "waga mi naruramu," this one declares "waga mi narikeri."

The first line, "yoso ni mishi," uses the attributive past "shi": that I watched as another's concern. Poem 359 of this book also says "yoso ni kikamu," treating impermanence as someone else's affair.
The second line, "obana ga sue no," refers to the tips of the pampas plumes.
The third line, "shiratsuyu wa" (the white dew), singles out the gleaming dew with "wa."
The fourth line, "aru ka naki ka no," means so faint that one cannot tell whether it exists.
The final line, "waga mi narikeri," combines the copula "nari" and exclamatory "keri," ending with the realization that it was his own self.
Source: Shika Wakashu
Prev Poem: Hanasusuki manekaba koko ni tomarinamu izure no nobe mo tsui no sumika zo
Next Poem: Kaku shitsutsu ima wa to naramu toki ni koso kuyashiki koto no kai mo nakarame