Waga sode ni ato fumitsuke yo hamachidori au koto katashi mite mo shinoban - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

我が袖に跡踏みつけよ浜千鳥
逢ふことかたし見ても偲ばん

Roma-ji: Waga sode ni ato fumitsuke yo hamachidori au koto katashi mite mo shinoban
English Translation: Upon my sleeve
leave the imprint of your tracks,
O plover of the shore:
meeting's hard as tidal flats,
so I'll long, gazing at them
Meaning: Plover of the shore, leave your tracks upon my sleeve. Meeting is as hard to come by as the tidal flats are bare, so I will cherish my love just by gazing at them.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 1057

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the tenth poem of the sequence on love that cannot meet, sung through places and things. Calling on the shore plover to leave its tracks on the sleeve, the speaker says that since meeting is hard, gazing at the tracks will be enough to cherish the beloved. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Anonymous," continues from the preceding poem and indicates a poem whose author's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "waga sode ni," means "on my sleeve."
The second line, "ato fumitsuke yo," is a command: tread your tracks there. Plovers' tracks were likened to handwriting, with the sense of "at least a letter." It shares its device with "ato fumitsukuru hamachidori" in 1024, Okikaze's poem.
The third line, "hamachidori," is a call of address, and the poem breaks here.
In the fourth line, "kata" pivots between "katashi," hard, and "kata," the tidal flats where plovers gather. The poem breaks again here.
The last line, "mite mo shinoban," means "I will cherish you, gazing at them." 1023, Izumi Shikibu's poem, likewise longs for a trace of the beloved's hand with "ato o dani," and the poems of traces answer each other. The sequence of anonymous poems ends with this one.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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