Machishi yo no fukeshi o nani ni nagekikemu omoitaete mo sugushikeru mi o - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

待ちし夜の更けしを何に嘆きけむ
思ひ絶えても過ぐしける身を

Roma-ji: Machishi yo no fukeshi o nani ni nagekikemu omoitaete mo sugushikeru mi o
English Translation: The nights I waited
as they deepened, why ever
did I grieve so much,
when even with all hope cut off
I have lived on just the same
Meaning: Why did I grieve so over the deepening of the nights I spent waiting, when even with all hope cut off I have gone on living like this?
Commentary: Book Seven Love Poems I 402

Once the poet grieved so as the nights of waiting deepened, yet now, with all hope cut off, she lives on still, and she wonders why she grieved so. From the loneliness of a present without even waiting, she looks back on the days when she could still wait.
Some manuscripts name Etchū of the Shirakawa Consort as the author.
Poem 352 in this book sings of the lament at dawn as a night of waiting ends, while this poem looks back on the nights of waiting from after even waiting has ceased.

First line, 'machishi yo no', means of the nights I waited, using the attributive of the past ki.
Second line, 'fukeshi o nani ni', means why, at their deepening.
Third line, 'nagekikemu', means did I grieve, using the past conjecture kemu. The poem breaks after the third line.
Fourth line, 'omoitaete mo', means even with my love cut off, the bond with the other broken.
Final line, 'sugushikeru mi o', means I who have lived on, the attributive of the exclamatory keri with the concessive o.
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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