Kimi ga senu waga tamakura wa kusa nare ya namida no tsuyu no yonayona zo oku - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

君がせぬわが手枕は草なれや
涙の露の夜な夜なぞ置く

Roma-ji: Kimi ga senu waga tamakura wa kusa nare ya namida no tsuyu no yonayona zo oku
English Translation: You no longer rest
upon this arm, my pillow—
is it grass, then, that
the dew of my tears should come
night after night to settle?
Meaning: Is my arm-pillow, which you no longer share, turned to grass, that the dew of my tears settles on it night after night?
Commentary: Book Fifteen Love Poems V 1349

Headnote: "To someone who had not come to court for a long time."
This is the fourteenth poem of the dew sequence and forms an exchange with the next poem. The speaker asks whether his arm-pillow, unshared by the beloved, has become grass, since the dew of tears settles on it every night, reproaching one who has long stayed away. According to the headnote, it was sent to someone who had not come to court for a long time.
The author, "Poem by Emperor Kōkō," is Emperor Kōkō, a son of Emperor Ninmyō. He took the throne at fifty-five as the fifty-eighth sovereign and reigned a little over three years.

The first line, "kimi ga senu," means "that you do not rest upon," referring to the lapse of their nights together.
The second line, "waga tamakura wa," refers to using one's own arm as a pillow. The arm-pillow meant to be shared by two is used alone.
In the third line, "kusa nare ya," "ya" is a questioning particle: "is it grass?" Following the convention that dew settles on grass leaves, the arm-pillow is likened to grass. The poem breaks after the third line.
The fourth line, "namida no tsuyu no," uses the same words as "namida no tsuyu ni," the fourth line of the preceding poem, carrying on the dewdrop tears of the sequence.
The last line, "yonayona zo oku," closes the kakari-musubi of "zo" with the attributive "oku." Like "yonayona tsuyu no," the fourth line of 1344, it sings of the dew of tears that settles night after night.
Author: Emperor Koko
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
Prev Poem: Yomosugara kiekaeritsuru waga mi kana namida no tsuyu ni musubohore tsutsu
Next Poem: Tsuyu bakari okuran sode wa tanomarezu namida no kawa no takitsuse nareba