Machitsukemu waga mi nariseba iku chitabi kaerikomu hi o kimi ni towamashi - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

待ちつけむ我が身なりせば幾千度
帰り来む日を君に問はまし

Roma-ji: Machitsukemu waga mi nariseba iku chitabi kaerikomu hi o kimi ni towamashi
English Translation: If I were one
who could wait to welcome you,
a thousand times and more
the day when you will return
I would ask of you again
Meaning: Were I one who could live to wait and welcome you, I would ask you a thousand times and more on what day you will come back.
Commentary: Book Six Parting Poems 343

If the poet were one who could wait to welcome the traveler home, he would ask a thousand times when that day would come. Through a contrary-to-fact supposition, the poem lets show the thought that he may not be able to wait for that day, conveying a sorrow of parting in which even asking about the return seems hard.
Some manuscripts name Minamoto no Yukimune as the author.
Poem 346 in this book likewise laments, thinking of the poet's own remaining years, whether he can wait to meet again, and answers this poem.

First line, 'machitsukemu', means who would wait and welcome, singing of waiting like the final line 'ikaga matsubeki' of poem 346 in this book.
Second line, 'waga mi nariseba', means if I were one, se, the irrealis of the past ki, with ba forming a supposition that answers mashi in the final line as a contrary-to-fact statement. 'Waga mi', my own self, also appears in the second line of poem 346 in this book.
Third line, 'iku chitabi', means many thousands of times, showing the strength of the wish to ask.
Fourth line, 'kaerikomu hi o', means the day you will come back, taking up 'return' in the preceding poem, 342.
Final line, 'kimi ni towamashi', means I would ask you, closing with the contrary-to-fact mashi.
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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