Makura nomi uku to omoishi namidagawa ima wa waga mi no shizumu narikeri - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

枕のみ浮くと思ひし涙川
今はわが身の沈むなりけり

Roma-ji: Makura nomi uku to omoishi namidagawa ima wa waga mi no shizumu narikeri
English Translation: Only my pillow
would float, I once thought, upon
this river of tears;
but now it is my own self
that sinks beneath its waters
Meaning: I thought this river of tears would only set my pillow afloat; now it is I myself who am sinking.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Love Poems V 1357

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the second poem of the sequence on tears and waters. The river of tears once thought deep enough only to float a pillow is now deep enough to sink the speaker, a deepening of love's pain. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Sakanoue no Korenori," was a poet of the early Heian period who served as Great Inner Secretary and Assistant Governor of Kaga. He was one of the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

The first line, "makura nomi," means "only my pillow." It begins with the same "nomi" as "namida nomi," the first line of the preceding poem.
The second line, "uku to omoishi," means "I thought would float." It takes up "ukiizuru" from the preceding poem.
The third line, "namidagawa," likens abundant tears to a river. It carries on the "river of tears" of 1350.
In the fourth line, "ima wa waga mi no," the "pillow" of the past is set against the "self" of the present.
The last line, "shizumu narikeri," closes with "keri" of realization: "it has come to sinking." The contrast of up and down, "floating" and "sinking," shows the deepening of grief.
Author: Sakanoue no Koreyuki
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
Prev Poem: Namida nomi ukiizuru ama no tsurizao no nagaki yosugara koitsutsu zo nuru
Next Poem: Omoboezu sode ni minato no sawagu kana morokoshibune no yorishi bakari ni