Kayoikoshi yado no michishiba karegare ni ato naki shimo no musubohoretsutsu - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

通ひ来し宿の道芝かれがれに
跡なき霜の結ぼほれつつ

Roma-ji: Kayoikoshi yado no michishiba karegare ni ato naki shimo no musubohoretsutsu
English Translation: The grass along the
path you once came to my house
withers, drifts apart,
and the frost that bears no tracks
lies knotted, as my heart is knotted.
Meaning: The grass along the path by which you used to come to my house has withered as your visits have fallen away, and the frost, untouched by any footprint, lies frozen, as my heart lies knotted with grief.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 1335

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "For the Minase Contest of Fifteen Love Poems."
This is the sixth poem of the sequence on love sung through tear-wet sleeves and winter imagery and the closing poem of Book Fourteen. The grass on the path you once took to my house withers as your visits fall away, the speaker says, and the untrodden frost lies knotted, as my heart is knotted. Continuing from the preceding poem, it was submitted to the Minase Contest of Fifteen Love Poems.
No author is named in the original; continuing from the preceding poem, it is by Shunzei's Daughter. A granddaughter of Fujiwara no Shunzei, she was adopted as his daughter, and she was the wife of Minamoto no Michitomo.

The first line, "kayoikoshi," means "that you used to come by." The past-tense "shi" shows that the visits already belong to the past.
The second line, "yado no michishiba," is the grass growing along the path to the house.
In the third line, "karegare ni," "karegare" is a pivot word meaning both the grass "withering" and the visits "falling away." The pivot on "kare," withering and drawing apart, repeated since 1244 and 1245, is layered once more at the close of the book.
The fourth line, "ato naki shimo no," means "of frost with no footprints." Like "ato taete" in 1286 and "ato mo nashi" in 1289, it shows that all traces of visits have vanished.
The last line, "musubohoretsutsu," overlays frost forming with a heart knotted in gloom, and breaks off on "tsutsu," leaving a lingering resonance. Where the opening poem, 1234, sang of love's beginning, weeping with feelings hidden night after night, this closing poem sings of love's end, with even the traces of visits sealed by frost, and so concludes Book Fourteen.
Author: Shunzei's Daughter
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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