Hito wa isa ari to ya suramu wasurarete towarenu mi koso naki kokochi sure - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

人はいさありとやすらむ忘られて
問はれぬ身こそなき心地すれ

Roma-ji: Hito wa isa ari to ya suramu wasurarete towarenu mi koso naki kokochi sure
English Translation: As for you, who knows—
do you think I am still here?
Forgotten by you,
unvisited, I feel
as though I were no more
Meaning: As for you, who can say? Perhaps you think I still live; but forgotten and unvisited, I feel as if I no longer exist.
Commentary: Book Eight Love Poems II 476

Perhaps the beloved thinks the poet still lives in this world, yet forgotten and unvisited, she feels as if she were already gone. Setting ari, to be, against naki, not to be, the poem conveys how fragile the existence of one forgotten becomes.

First line, 'hito wa isa', means as for you, who knows, the adverb isa expressing uncertainty.
Second line, 'ari to ya suramu', means do you think I still live, the particle ya and the attributive of the conjectural ramu forming a break after the second line.
Third line, 'wasurarete', means being forgotten, using the passive ru.
Fourth line, 'towarenu mi koso', means this self that no one visits, the particle koso answered by sure in the final line.
Final line, 'naki kokochi sure', means I feel as if I were not, pairing with ari in the second line and closing with sure, the perfective form of su, in answer to koso in the fourth line.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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