Nagekiwabi yo o somukubeki kata shirazu Yoshino no oku mo sumiushi to ieri

嘆きわび世を背くべき方知らず
吉野の奥も住み憂しと言へり

Roma-ji: Nagekiwabi yo o somukubeki kata shirazu Yoshino no oku mo sumiushi to ieri
English Translation: Worn out with grief,
I would turn my back on the world,
but know not where;
they say that even the depths
of Yoshino are hard to live in.
Meaning: Worn out with grieving, I would renounce the world, yet I do not know where to go; they say even the depths of Yoshino are hard to live in.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 685

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Among miscellaneous poems"
Weary of grieving, the poet would leave the world but knows not where to hide; people say even the depths of Yoshino, the place of retreat, are hard to live in. It voices a sorrow with no escape, with nowhere even to renounce the world.
As in the Kokinshū poem wishing for a dwelling beyond the hills of Yoshino as a refuge from the world's sorrows, the depths of Yoshino were long sung as a place of retreat.

Line 1 means "worn out with grief."
Line 2 means "to turn from the world," to take vows and leave secular life.
Line 3 means "I do not know where," with a break after the line.
Line 4 means "even the depths of Yoshino," famed as a place of retreat.
Line 5 means "they say is hard to live in." The next poem, 686, also laments having nowhere to dwell.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
Prev Poem: Yo ni fureba uki koto no ha no kazu goto ni taezu namida no tsuyu zo okikeru
Next Poem: Izuku nite yo o ba tsukusamu Sugawara ya Fushimi no sato mo arenu to iu mono o