Karisome ni fushimi no nobe no kusamakura tsuyu kakariki to hito ni kataru na - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

かりそめにふしみの野辺の草枕
露かかりきと人に語るな

Roma-ji: Karisome ni fushimi no nobe no kusamakura tsuyu kakariki to hito ni kataru na
English Translation: Only for a while,
lying on Fushimi's plain,
pillow of grasses—
that dew fell upon it there,
do not tell it to anyone
Meaning: We lay for only a fleeting while on a pillow of grass on the plain of Fushimi; never tell anyone that the dew fell upon it.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 1165

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
This is the first poem of a sequence fearing that a lovers' meeting will become known. The speaker lay for a fleeting while on a pillow of grass on the plain of Fushimi and begs that no one be told the dew fell upon it. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author is given as "Anonymous," meaning that the name has not come down to us.
Fushimi is a famous poetic place, often sung with a pun on "fushimiru," "to lie down and see."

The first line, "karisome ni," means "for only a passing moment," showing that this was a makeshift meeting of a single night.
In the second line, "fushimi no nobe no," "fushimi" is a pivot word joining the place name Fushimi to "lying down and seeing." It suggests a makeshift night lying together on the open plain.
The third line, "kusamakura," refers to sleeping on a journey, here a makeshift night together on the plain. Poem 1150 of this book likewise called a night at a temporary lodging a "pillow of grass."
The fourth line, "tsuyu kakariki to," means "that dew fell upon it," with "ki" the past auxiliary. The dew on the grass pillow is overlaid with tears, and with the fact that a meeting took place.
The last line, "hito ni kataru na," is the same as the second line of 1159 and 1161 of this book. The words of silence repeated in the dream sequence are placed here in the last line, and the theme shifts to the fear that the meeting will become known.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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