Shiratsuyu wa okite kawaredo momoshiki no utsurou aki wa mono zo kanashiki - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

白露は置きて変はれどももしきの
うつろふ秋はものぞ悲しき

Roma-ji: Shiratsuyu wa okite kawaredo momoshiki no utsurou aki wa mono zo kanashiki
English Translation: The white dew settles
and changes all the colors, but
this autumn in the palace,
when all is passing, shifting,
is sorrowful beyond words.
Meaning: White dew settles and changes the colors of the leaves each year, but this autumn, when the palace itself is changing, is sorrowful beyond words.
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1722

Headnote: "Composed in the autumn when the Teiji-in was about to abdicate."
A lament for change within the palace. It is the way of autumn that white dew settles and turns the colors of plants, but this autumn, as the emperor leaves the throne and the palace changes, is especially sad. According to the headnote, it was composed in the autumn when the Teiji-in, Emperor Uda, was about to abdicate, and it carries her regret at the departure of the sovereign she had served.
The author, "Ise," was the daughter of Fujiwara no Tsugukage. She served Empress Onshi, consort of Emperor Uda, and received the emperor's affection. She was called by this name because her father was Governor of Ise, and she is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.
The Teiji-in is Emperor Uda, so called because after abdicating in favor of Emperor Daigo he lived at the Teiji-in palace.

The first line, "shiratsuyu wa," is the white dew that settles on plants in autumn, which was held to change their colors.
The second line, "okite kawaredo," means "settles and changes the colors, but." "Do" is concessive, presenting the changes of nature as the premise.
The third line, "momoshiki no," means the palace. The palace Nyokaku yearned for in the poem two before is here sung of as something passing.
In the fourth line, "utsurou aki wa," "utsurou" is a pivot word meaning both the palace's master changing and autumn deepening and fading. It also echoes the dew's change of color in the second line.
The last line, "mono zo kanashiki," closes the kakari-musubi of "zo" with the attributive form of the adjective "kanashiki." It declares strongly a sorrow in the palace's change unlike the dew's yearly changes.
Author: Ise
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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