Sode no tsuyu mo aranu iro ni zo kiekaeru utsureba kawaru nageki seshi ma ni - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

袖の露もあらぬ色にぞ消えかへる
うつれば変はる嘆きせしまに

Roma-ji: Sode no tsuyu mo aranu iro ni zo kiekaeru utsureba kawaru nageki seshi ma ni
English Translation: Even the dew on
my sleeve has turned another
color, fading, gone,
while I grieved that all must change
when a lover's heart has changed.
Meaning: Even the dew of tears on my sleeve has turned another color and is fading away, while I grieved that everything changes once a lover's heart has changed.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 1323

Headnote: "On the topic 'Love Forgotten.'"
This is the sixth poem of the sequence of love's grief sung through autumn imagery. While I grieved that all changes once a heart changes, the speaker says, even the dew of tears on my sleeve has turned another color and is fading. According to the headnote, it was composed on the topic "Love Forgotten."
The author, "the Retired Sovereign," is Retired Emperor Go-Toba. A son of Emperor Takakura, he ruled as retired emperor after abdicating and commanded the compilation of the Shinkokinshū. "Retired Sovereign" is the title of an emperor who has abdicated and here refers to Go-Toba, the retired emperor at the time the collection was made.
"Love Forgotten" is a topic for love in which one has been forgotten by the beloved.

The first line, "sode no tsuyu mo," has six syllables, one more than the norm, and means "even the dew of tears on my sleeve."
The second line, "aranu iro ni zo," means "to a color it never was." It says the tears have changed color as if to tears of blood, showing grief deepening. "Zo" is answered by the attributive form in the third line.
The third line, "kiekaeru," means "fades away utterly," and the poem breaks after it.
The fourth line, "utsureba kawaru," means "when it shifts, all changes." It says that once a lover's heart shifts, everything changes with it.
The last line, "nageki seshi ma ni," means "while I was grieving." In inverted order it connects to the upper lines: while grieving the shift of another's heart, even the color of the dew on one's own sleeve has changed.
Author: Go-Toba In
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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