Hito shirenu koi ni waga mi wa shizumedomo mirume ni uku wa namida narikeri - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

人知れぬ恋にわが身は沈めども
みるめに浮くは涙なりけり

Roma-ji: Hito shirenu koi ni waga mi wa shizumedomo mirume ni uku wa namida narikeri
English Translation: In a love unknown,
though I have sunk myself deep,
what floats to the eyes
that behold you, like sea-pine,
are tears, I find, and nothing more.
Meaning: In a love no one knows of, I have sunk deep; yet what rises to the surface of eyes that can only look upon you is nothing but tears.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 1091

Headnote: "Composed on the idea of 'Love That Sees but Cannot Meet.'"
This is the first of two poems on the tears of a love that cannot be spoken. Setting sinking against floating, the speaker says that though sunk in a secret love, what rises in the eyes that see the beloved is tears. According to the headnote, it was composed on the topic "Love That Sees but Cannot Meet," a love in which one may glimpse the beloved but never meet.
The author, "Hanazono Minister of the Left," is Minamoto no Arihito. A grandson of Emperor Go-Sanjō and the son of Prince Sukehito, he left the imperial family for commoner status and rose to minister of the left.

The first line, "hito shirenu," means "unknown to others." Poem 1093 in this book also begins with "hito shirezu," so the pain of a love unknown to others is sung again.
The second line, "koi ni waga mi wa," means "my body, in love," and runs on to "shizume" in the third line.
The third line, "shizumedomo," means "though I have sunk," with "domo" adversative. Sinking oneself in love is likened to sinking in water.
In the fourth line, "mirume ni uku wa," "mirume" holds both "mirume," the eyes that see the beloved, and the seaweed "miru." Sinking is set against floating, and "miru," sinking and floating are used as associated words of the sea. Poem 1084 in this book also plays on "mirume" to speak of the tears of unrequited love.
In the last line, "namida narikeri," "keri" is an exclamation of realization: "what floated up, I find, was tears." The topic "sees but cannot meet" is rendered as tears rising in the eyes that see.
Author: Minamoto no Arihito
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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