Konu hito o kanarazu matsu to nakeredomo akatsukigata ni nari ya shinuramu

来ぬ人を必ず待つとなけれども
暁方になりやしぬらむ

Roma-ji: Konu hito o kanarazu matsu to nakeredomo akatsukigata ni nari ya shinuramu
English Translation: It is not that I
must surely wait for one
who will not come,
and yet, before I know,
has it not come to dawn?
Meaning: It is not that I am determined to wait for one who will not come, and yet has the night not slipped into dawn?
Commentary: Love Poems 514

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed on the theme of waiting for a lover"
It is not that the poet means to wait for someone who will not come, yet before he knows it dawn is near; the poem quietly shows a heart that waits even while resolving not to.
Kamo no Mabuchi marked it with a circle and said of this and the following poem beginning urami wabi that, though not in the ancient style, it is the power to compose like this that gives rise to a lofty spirit.

Line 1 means "the one who does not come."
Line 2 means "that I will surely wait."
Line 3 means "though it is not so," with an extra syllable.
Line 4 means "toward dawn."
Line 5: ya binds the attributive ramu. The years of waiting in the preceding poem are shifted to a single night.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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