Tsukaetsuru konomi no hodo o kazoureba aware kozue ni narinikeru kana - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

仕へつるこのみのほどを数ふれば
あはれ梢になりにけるかな

Roma-ji: Tsukaetsuru konomi no hodo o kazoureba aware kozue ni narinikeru kana
English Translation: When I count the years
of service this body gave,
like fruit upon a tree,
ah, I find that I have come
to hang upon the tips of boughs
Meaning: When I count the years this body of mine has served, I find, alas, that like fruit grown at the tips of the branches, I have come to the end of my days.
Commentary: Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems I 562

Counting the years he has spent in service, the poet sighs that, like fruit ripening at the tips of the branches, he has come to the last stage of life. Konomi joins this body and tree fruit, overlaying fruit ripening on the twig ends with the self reaching its end, to express feeling for a body grown old after long years of service.
The next poem, 563, answers this one, also using the pivot konomi, and the two form an exchange.
The author, Yorimune, is Fujiwara no Yorimune. The second son of Fujiwara no Michinaga, he rose to Minister of the Right and was known as the Horikawa Minister of the Right.

First line, 'tsukaetsuru', means having served, using the attributive of the perfective tsu.
Second line, 'konomi no hodo o', is a pivot in which konomi means both this body and the fruit of a tree, left in kana; it means the years of this body. The same konomi appears in the fourth line of the next poem, 563.
Third line, 'kazoureba', means when I count, the realis followed by ba.
Fourth line, 'aware kozue ni', means ah, to the twig ends, kozue overlaying the tips of branches with the end of life. It is a related word to konomi as tree fruit in the second line.
Final line, 'narinikeru kana', means how I have come to be, naru overlaying fruit growing on a tree with the self coming to its end. The perfective nu and exclamatory keri are followed by kana.
Author: Fujiwara no Yorimune
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
Prev Poem: Hayaki se ni tatanu bakari zo mizuguruma ware mo ukiyo ni meguru to o shire
Next Poem: Sugikikeru tsukihi no hodo mo shiraretsutsu konomi o miru mo aware naru kana