Shitamoe ni omoi kienan keburi dani ato naki kumo no hate zo kanashiki - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

下燃えにおもひ消えなん煙だに
跡なき雲の果てぞ悲しき

Roma-ji: Shitamoe ni omoi kienan keburi dani ato naki kumo no hate zo kanashiki
English Translation: Smoldering below,
I shall surely burn away;
yet even the smoke
turns to cloud that leaves no trace—
how sad is such an ending.
Meaning: Consumed by the hidden fire of a love I never reveal, I shall surely burn away and die; and how sad the end will be, when even the smoke that rises from me becomes a cloud that leaves no trace.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 1081

Headnote: "When presenting fifty poems; on 'Love Linked to Clouds.'"
This is the opening poem of Love Poems II and the first of a group that expresses hidden love through smoke and seaside imagery. The speaker grieves that, dying of a secret love, even the smoke of the pyre will become a cloud that leaves no trace. According to the headnote, it was composed on the topic "Love Linked to Clouds" as one of fifty poems presented to Retired Emperor Go-Toba.
The author, "Daughter of Shunzei, Master of the Empress Dowager's Household," is Fujiwara no Shunzei's Daughter. The name means the daughter of Shunzei, who held that post, but she was in fact his granddaughter, the daughter of Fujiwara no Moriyori, adopted by Shunzei. She was active in Go-Toba's poetic circle.

The first line, "shitamoe ni," means smoldering deep within without showing, a figure for secret love. A word that states the theme of hidden love is placed at the head of Love Poems II.
In the second line, "omoi kienan," the word "omoi" (longing) contains "hi" (fire), and it is bound by association to "moe" (burning) in the first line, "kie" (dying out) in the second, and "keburi" (smoke) in the third. "Nan" joins the perfective "nu" to the conjectural "mu": I shall surely burn out, a premonition of death.
The third line, "keburi dani," means "even the smoke" of the pyre. "Dani" names the lesser thing to imply the greater: not only does the body vanish, but not even its smoke remains. The next poem also speaks of smoke, "keburi wa sora ni," so the two poems are joined by smoke.
The fourth line, "ato naki kumo no," shows the smoke melting into cloud without a trace, and here the topic word "cloud" is worked in. Poem 1094 in this book likewise bids the "cloud on the peak" to vanish "until no trace remains," echoing this pairing of a hidden heart with a traceless cloud.
The last line, "hate zo kanashiki," closes with the attributive "kanashiki" in answer to the emphatic particle "zo." Poem 1083 in this book also longs to know the "end" of the sleeve, so the end toward which love leads is questioned again. The sorrow of a love that ends unknown to anyone sets the keynote of Love Poems II as its opening poem.
Author: The Daughter of Fujiwara no Shunzei
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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