Trusting to a dream
That never reaches its end,
Along that dream path—
Upon my waiting sleeve
Does heaven’s dew fall and rest?

Meaning

Relying on a dream path that never reaches its end, I fall asleep; and upon my sleeve, soaked through when I wake, does the dew from the heavens fall?

Commentary

54. Trusting to a Dream Path

A certain man composed this poem for a woman who was cold and gave no response at all, though he pleaded his feelings.

Resigning himself to the thought that he cannot meet her in reality, he at least entrusts himself to dreams; and when he awakens with sleeves wet from tears, he speaks as though it were the dew of the heavens that has fallen upon them.

Source

Ise Monogatari

Other

Cutting iris leaves, You must have lost your way there In the marshy fields; While I went out to the plain To hunt—how wretched it was.
Why does the cock crow? Though none knows of our secret, And I love unseen, Still it is the depth of night— How can dawn have come so soon?
You may well remain Without thinking of me now— So it might indeed; Yet at every passing word, I find myself trusting still.
Though these sleeves of mine Are no hut of woven grass, When evening falls down, They become a lodging place Where the dewdrops come to rest.

Trusting to a dream That never reaches its end, Along that dream path— Upon my waiting sleeve Does heaven’s dew fall and rest?

Trusting to a dream
That never reaches its end,
Along that dream path—
Upon my waiting sleeve
Does heaven’s dew fall and rest?