Uchiwasure hakanakute nomi sugushikinu aware to omoe mi ni mo tsumoru toshi

うち忘れはかなくてのみ過ぐし来ぬ
あはれと思へ身にも積もる年

Roma-ji: Uchiwasure hakanakute nomi sugushikinu aware to omoe mi ni mo tsumoru toshi
English Translation: Forgetting all,
only in vain and fleeting ways
have I passed my days—
pity me, O years that pile
ever higher on this body.
Meaning: Forgetting everything, I have let my days slip by in nothing but vain and fleeting ways—take pity on me, O years that keep piling up on me.
Commentary: Winter Poems 395

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "An old man grieving over the year's end"
Looking back, the poet sings that he has passed his days as if forgetting everything, in nothing but vain and fleeting ways, and calls on the years piling up upon him to take pity on him. He voices regret for years spent in vain and the loneliness of a body growing old.

Line 1 means "forgetting all," with uchi a prefix.
Line 2 means "only in vain and fleeting ways."
Line 3 means "I have spent my days," and the poem pauses here.
Line 4 means "take pity on me," an imperative addressed to the "years" of line 5.
Line 5 is hypermetric, the years piling up on oneself, ending on a noun that names the one addressed. Where 391 sang sins piling up on oneself, this sings years piling up.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
Prev Poem: Oinureba toshi no kureyuku tabigoto ni waga mi hitotsu to omōyuru kana
Next Poem: Ashihiki no yama yori oku ni yado mogana toshi no kumajiki kakurega ni semu