Kagerō no sore ka aranu ka harusame no furu hi to nareba sode zo nurenuru - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

かげろふのそれかあらぬか春雨の
ふる日となれば袖ぞ濡れぬる

Roma-ji: Kagerō no sore ka aranu ka harusame no furu hi to nareba sode zo nurenuru
English Translation: Like a shimmer of heat,
is it you or is it not?
When the spring rain
falls, and the days recall the past,
my sleeves grow wet with tears.
Meaning: Like a heat shimmer, I cannot tell whether it is you or not; yet whenever the spring rain falls, bringing back the one I knew of old, my sleeves are wet with tears.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 731

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Thinking of a former lover, as fleeting as a heat shimmer and so uncertain that one cannot tell whether he is there or not, the speaker wets her sleeves with tears whenever the spring rain falls. By hiding "furuhito" (the one of old) in "furu hi to" and overlaying spring rain with tears, the poem expresses an unbearable longing for a love now past.
Following the preceding poem's longing for a meeting, it sings of a heart weeping for a lover of the past. Poems looking back on old love continue with "onaji hito ni ya koiwatarinamu" in the next poem, 732, and "inishie ni nao tachikaeru kokoro kana" in 734.

The first line, "kagerō no," refers to heat shimmer or the mayfly, symbols of what is fleeting and uncertain, leading into the second line.
The second line, "sore ka aranu ka," means "is it or is it not," showing uncertainty; the poem pauses here.
The third line, "harusame no," is the gentle rain of spring, hinting at tears.
In the fourth line, "furu hi to nareba," "furu" is a pivot word joining "furu" (to fall, of rain) and "furu" (to grow old), so that "furu hi to" also carries "furuhito," the one of old.
The final line, "sode zo nurenuru," means "my sleeves grow wet," with the particle "zo" closed by "nuru," the attributive form of the perfective "nu," in a kakari-musubi, overlaying spring rain with tears.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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