Chirasu na yo shino no hagusa no kari ni te mo tsuyu kakarubeki sode no ue ka wa - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

散らすなよ篠の葉草のかりにても
露かかるべき袖の上かは

Roma-ji: Chirasu na yo shino no hagusa no kari ni te mo tsuyu kakarubeki sode no ue ka wa
English Translation: Do not scatter it:
like the reeds that are cut down,
even for a while,
is this sleeve of mine a place
where the dew may come to rest?
Meaning: Do not let it scatter. As reeds are cut, is this sleeve a place where dew may rest, even for a passing moment? No, it is not.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 1111

Headnote: "When the Lay Priest and Former Regent was Minister of the Right, from a hundred-poem sequence; on 'Hidden Love.'"
This is the second of three poems on dew and tears. Since the speaker's sleeve is no place for dew to rest even for a passing moment, he bids that the dew not be scattered, with a play on cutting reeds. According to the headnote, it is a poem on "Hidden Love" from a hundred-poem sequence of the time when the Lay Priest and Former Regent was Minister of the Right. No author is named in the original; like the preceding poem, it is by Fujiwara no Shunzei.
The author, "Shunzei, Master of the Empress Dowager's Household," is Fujiwara no Shunzei. The son of Provisional Middle Counselor Fujiwara no Toshitada, he compiled the Senzaishū at the command of Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa. He was the father of Fujiwara no Teika.
The "Lay Priest and Former Regent" of the headnote is Kujō Kanezane, who held a hundred-poem gathering when he was Minister of the Right.

The first line, "chirasu na yo," means "do not scatter it," the prohibitive "na" joined to "yo." The poem breaks after the first line, forbidding the dew to scatter while warning that tears scattered before others' eyes will become rumor. It has the same form as "morasu na yo," the first line of poem 1087 in this book.
The second line, "shino no hagusa no," means "of the leaves of the reeds," taking up "shino ni tsuyu chiru" from the preceding poem and continuing the reeds. The lines up to here lead to "kari" in the third line.
In the third line, "kari ni te mo," "kari" holds both "kari," cutting the reeds, and "kari ni," for a passing moment.
The fourth line, "tsuyu kakarubeki," means "where dew may rest," the dew being a figure for tears.
The last line, "sode no ue ka wa," means "is it my sleeve? no, it is not," with "ka wa" marking a rhetorical question. Since this is a hidden love, a sleeve wet with tears must never be shown to others, even for a moment.
Author: Fujiwara no Shunzei
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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