Harusame no furishiku koro ka aoyagi no itodo midarete hito zo koishiki - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

春雨の降りしくころか青柳の
いとど乱れて人ぞ恋しき

Roma-ji: Harusame no furishiku koro ka aoyagi no itodo midarete hito zo koishiki
English Translation: Is it that the rains
of spring are falling steadily?
Like green willow threads
all the more my heart is tangled,
and how I long for you.
Meaning: Is it because the spring rain falls so steadily? Like the threads of the green willow, my heart is tangled all the more, and I long for you.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 1250

Headnote: "On a rainy day after the Reikeiden Consort had entered the palace, to the Umetsubo Consort."
This is the third poem of the sequence of exchanges among members of the court. Is it because the spring rain falls steadily, the speaker asks, that like tangled willow threads my heart is all the more disordered and I long for you? According to the headnote, it was sent to the Umetsubo Consort on a rainy day after the Reikeiden Consort had entered the palace.
The author, "Poem of Go-Suzaku-in," is Emperor Go-Suzaku. A son of Emperor Ichijō, his mother was Fujiwara no Shōshi. With Empress Princess Teishi he fathered Emperor Go-Sanjō. "Poem of Go-Suzaku-in" means a poem composed by Emperor Go-Suzaku. In the headnote, "the Reikeiden Consort" means the consort who lived in the Reikeiden hall, and "the Umetsubo Consort" the consort who lived in the Umetsubo court; the Umetsubo Consort is Fujiwara no Seishi, author of the next poem.
The Consort answers in the next poem, 1251.
In the main text, the fourth line reads "itodo midarete," which does not match "ito midaretsutsu" in the reading line. Here the main text is followed.

The first line, "harusame no," takes up the rainy day of the headnote.
In the second line, "furishiku koro ka," "ka" is interrogative: "is it because the spring rain falls so steadily?" The poem breaks after the second line.
The third line, "aoyagi no," is the willow wet with spring rain; its slender branches are likened to threads, leading into the fourth line.
In the fourth line, "itodo midarete," "itodo" means "all the more" and plays on "ito," the threads of the green willow. The tangling of threads is overlaid on the turmoil of the heart.
The last line, "hito zo koishiki," closes in the attributive form "koishiki" in answer to "zo." Amid the arrival of a new consort, he declares his longing for the Umetsubo Consort.
Author: Emperor Go-Suzaku
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
Prev Poem: Omoiyaru kokoro wa sora ni aru mono o nado ka kumoi ni aimizaruramu
Next Poem: Aoyagi no ito midaretaru kono koro wa hitosuji ni shimo omoiyorareji