Nobe no tsuyu wa iro mo nakute ya koboretsuru sode yori suguru ogi no uwakaze - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

野辺の露は色もなくてやこぼれつる
袖より過ぐる荻の上風

Roma-ji: Nobe no tsuyu wa iro mo nakute ya koboretsuru sode yori suguru ogi no uwakaze
English Translation: The dew of the fields—
was it spilled without color
as it scattered down?
Past my sleeves it goes blowing,
the wind across the reed-tops
Meaning: Did the dew of the fields spill without any color, unlike the tears on my sleeves? The wind over the reed-tops blows on past my sleeves.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Love Poems V 1338

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed for the Minase Poetry Contest on Fifteen Love Topics."
This is the third poem of the dew sequence. To the wind over the reeds that blows past the sleeves, the speaker asks whether the dew of the fields spilled without color, implying the colored tears on the speaker's own sleeves. Like the poems before it, it was presented at the Minase Poetry Contest on Fifteen Love Topics.
The author, "Former Archbishop Jien," is Jien, son of Regent Fujiwara no Tadamichi. He served four times as Tendai Abbot and wrote the history Gukanshō.

The first line, "nobe no tsuyu wa," runs to six syllables, one over the count. The particle "wa" singles out the dew of the fields and sets it against the dew on the sleeves.
In the second line, "iro mo nakute ya," "ya" is a questioning particle. Whereas the dew in the preceding poems stood for tears, here the dew of the fields and the tears on the sleeves are separated, implying that the tears have color. The word "color" takes up "a color that pierces me" from the opening poem.
The third line, "koboretsuru," closes the kakari-musubi of "ya" with an attributive form. The poem breaks after the third line.
The fourth line, "sode yori suguru," means "blowing on past my sleeves." As with "our sleeves part" in the opening poem, the sleeves are the place of tears.
The last line, "ogi no uwakaze," ends on a noun. It is the autumn wind passing over the reed leaves, whose rustling has long been sung as a sign of autumn's coming or of a visitor's approach. The wind that scatters the field dew blows on past the sleeves as well.
Author: Jien
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
Prev Poem: Omoiiru mi wa fukakusa no aki no tsuyu tanomeshi sue ya kogarashi no kaze
Next Poem: Koiwabite nobe no tsuyu to wa kienu tomo tare ka kusaba o aware to wa min