Utatane no yume nakariseba wakarenishi mukashi no hito o mata mo mimashi ya - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

うたた寝の夢なかりせば別れにし
昔の人をまたも見ましや

Roma-ji: Utatane no yume nakariseba wakarenishi mukashi no hito o mata mo mimashi ya
English Translation: If there had not been
the dreams of a fitful doze,
would I see again
the one from days long ago
from whom I had been parted
Meaning: Had there been no dream in my light doze, would I ever have seen again the one from long ago from whom I was parted?
Commentary: Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems I 553

Had there been no dream in a fitful doze, the poet asks, could he ever have seen again the one long gone from whom death parted him? Taking his glimpse of the departed in a dream during a light sleep as a reunion made possible only by the dream, he expresses his longing for the one who has died.
Where Ono no Komachi's poem in the Kokin Wakashū sang of the joy of seeing a beloved in a doze and coming to trust in dreams, this poem turns the dream of a doze into a lament for the dead.
The author, Akisue, is Fujiwara no Akisue. A son of Fujiwara no Takatsune, he rose to Master of the Office of Palace Repairs and founded the Rokujō Fujiwara house of poets. He was esteemed as a close retainer of Retired Emperor Shirakawa.

First line, 'utatane no', means of a fitful doze, dozing off without meaning to lie down.
Second line, 'yume nakariseba', means had there been no dream, se, the irrealis of the past ki, followed by ba to make a counterfactual supposition.
Third line, 'wakarenishi', means from whom I was parted, here by death.
Fourth line, 'mukashi no hito o', means the person of long ago, pointing to the departed.
Final line, 'mata mo mimashi ya', means would I have seen again? No, I would not, the counterfactual mashi with ya forming a rhetorical question. It answers seba in the second line.
Author: Fujiwara no Akisue
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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