Omoiyaru kokoro mo sora ni shirakumo no idetatsu kata o shirase ya wa senu - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

思ひやる心も空に白雲の
出で立つかたを知らせやはせぬ

Roma-ji: Omoiyaru kokoro mo sora ni shirakumo no idetatsu kata o shirase ya wa senu
English Translation: My heart, reaching out,
is drifting in the sky—
like the white clouds,
where it is you set out for
will you not let me know?
Meaning: My heart, reaching out to you, drifts in the sky; will you not let me know where you are setting out for, rising like the white clouds?
Commentary: Book Fifteen Love Poems V 1414

Headnote: "On hearing that a woman was going away elsewhere."
This is the fourth poem of the sequence on sky and clouds. Hearing that a woman is moving elsewhere, he says his heart, reaching out to her, is adrift, and asks whether she will not tell him where she sets out for like rising white clouds. According to the headnote, it was sent on hearing that the woman was moving elsewhere.
The author, "Minister of War Prince Munehira," was a son of Emperor Murakami. He served as Minister of War and later took the tonsure.

The first line, "omoiyaru," means "reaching out in thought."
In the second line, "kokoro mo sora ni," "sora ni" means a heart unsettled and absent, echoing the sky and leading to "shirakumo" in the third line. It takes up "harukeki sora" of the preceding poem.
The third line, "shirakumo no," means "as white clouds rise," leading to "idetatsu" in the fourth line. The sound "shira" also echoes "shirase" (let me know) in the last line.
The fourth line, "idetatsu kata o," means "the direction you set out for." Clouds rising and a person setting out are overlaid.
In the last line, "shirase ya wa senu," "ya wa" is rhetorical: "will you not let me know? Do let me know." It closes with the attributive "nu."
Author: Prince Munehira
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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