Yume no uchi ni au to mietsuru nezame koso tsurenaki yori mo sode wa nurekere - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

夢のうちに逢ふと見えつる寝覚めこそ
つれなきよりも袖は濡れけれ

Roma-ji: Yume no uchi ni au to mietsuru nezame koso tsurenaki yori mo sode wa nurekere
English Translation: Waking from a dream
in which it seemed we met—
it is then, far more
than at your coldness,
that my sleeves are wet with tears.
Meaning: It is on waking from a dream in which we seemed to meet, more than at your coldness, that my sleeves grow wet with tears.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 1127

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
This is the fourth poem of the sequence on dreams. Waking from a dream of meeting, the speaker finds his sleeves wetter than when he laments the beloved's coldness. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Major Counselor Sanemune," is Fujiwara no Sanemune. The son of Provisional Major Counselor Fujiwara no Kinmichi, he served as major counselor.

The first line, "yume no uchi ni," means "in a dream," a hypermetric line. As the close of the dream sequence, a meeting within a dream is sung once more.
The second line, "au to mietsuru," means "in which we seemed to meet," with "tsuru" the attributive of the perfective "tsu."
The third line, "nezame koso," means "it is on waking," the particle "koso" forming a bound construction with the perfective "nurekere" of the last line. Like "samete nochi" in poem 1125 of this book, it sings of the heart after waking from a dream.
The fourth line, "tsurenaki yori mo," means "more than at your coldness," a comparison. The beloved's coldness in waking life is set against waking after a dream of meeting.
The last line, "sode wa nurekere," means "my sleeves are wet," ending in the perfective form in answer to "koso." The deeper the joy of a dream in which they seemed to meet, the deeper the disappointment on waking.
Author: Fujiwara no Sanemune
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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