Numa goto ni sode zo nurenuru ayamegusa kokoro ni nitaru ne o motomu tote - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

沼ごとに袖ぞ濡れぬるあやめ草
心に似たるねを求むとて

Roma-ji: Numa goto ni sode zo nurenuru ayamegusa kokoro ni nitaru ne o motomu tote
English Translation: In marsh after marsh
my sleeves have grown wet through, seeking
the iris plant,
that I might find a root to match
the depths within my heart
Meaning: In marsh after marsh my sleeves have grown wet, as I searched for an iris whose root would match the depth of my heart.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 1042

Headnote: "Sent to a woman with a medicine ball, on behalf of a man."
This is the first poem of a sequence on love sung through the things of the Fifth Month. Seeking an iris whose long root would match the heart, for a medicine ball to send to a woman, the speaker has wet the sleeves in marsh after marsh. According to the headnote, it was composed on behalf of a man sending a medicine ball to a woman.
The author, "Sakon, Lady Chamberlain to Sanjō-in," was a lady chamberlain who served Emperor Sanjō. A lady chamberlain was a lower-ranking court lady who handled miscellaneous duties in the palace, and Sakon was her service name.
A medicine ball was made for the Tango festival on the fifth day of the Fifth Month, bundling iris, mugwort, and other plants into a ball hung with threads of five colors to ward off evil.

The first line, "numa goto ni," means "in every marsh."
In the second line, the emphatic "zo" is resolved by "nuru." Sleeves wet with marsh water are laid over sleeves wet with the tears of love. The poem breaks here.
In the third line, "ayamegusa" is the iris, thatched on the eaves at the Tango festival and used in medicine balls. Contests comparing the length of iris roots were also held.
The fourth line, "kokoro ni nitaru ne o," means "a root like my heart," entrusting deep feeling to a long, deep root.
The last line, "motomu tote," means "seeking it," giving through inversion the reason the sleeves are wet, and filling the medicine ball with feeling. The next poem, by Kintō, also sings of the iris on the fifth day of the Fifth Month, and poems of the Tango festival continue.
Author: Sakon, Lady Chamberlain to Retired Emperor Sanjō
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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Next Poem: Hototogisu itsu ka to machishi ayamegusa kyō wa ika naru ne ni ka nakubeki