Namidagawa makura nagaruru ukine ni wa yume mo sadaka ni miezu zo arikeru - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

涙川枕流るるうき寝には
夢もさだかに見えずぞありける

Roma-ji: Namidagawa makura nagaruru ukine ni wa yume mo sadaka ni miezu zo arikeru
English Translation: The river of tears
flows so, it washes my pillow
in this sorrowful
floating sleep, not even dreams
could I see clearly
Meaning: In this sorrowful, drifting sleep, with a river of tears flowing over my pillow, not even my dreams could be seen clearly.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 527

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poet laments that on nights of sleeping in tears, so many that they flow like a river across the pillow, he cannot see even dreams clearly, though he hoped at least to meet the beloved there. Through the exaggeration of tears as a river and the pivot of "floating sleep" with "sorrowful sleep," it expresses the grief of not meeting the beloved even in dreams. It brings to a close the dream poems that run from poem 516 of this book.

First line, "The river of tears": namidagawa is a figure for tears flowing like a river, the same first line as poem 511 of this book.
Second line, "flows so, it washes my pillow": makura nagaruru means tears flowing over the pillow, exaggerating their abundance.
Third line, "in this sorrowful": uki is a pivot word meaning both "floating" on the river of tears and "sorrowful." Ukine is the sleep of waterbirds floating on water, and it also suggests restless sleep.
Fourth line, "floating sleep, not even dreams": yume mo sadaka ni means even dreams, clearly.
Fifth line, "could I see clearly": miezu zo arikeru means "could not be seen," with zo forming a kakari-musubi with keru.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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