Kannazuki shigure ni nururu momijiba wa tada wabibito no tamoto narikeri - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

神無月時雨に濡るるもみぢ葉は
ただわび人の袂なりけり

Roma-ji: Kannazuki shigure ni nururu momijiba wa tada wabibito no tamoto narikeri
English Translation: In Kannazuki,
the autumn leaves soaked through
by the winter rain
are nothing else than the sleeves
of one who lives in sorrow.
Meaning: The crimson leaves drenched by the showers of the Godless Month are nothing but the sleeves of one sunk in grief.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Poems of Lament 840

Headnote: "Composed while in mourning for his mother"
This poem was composed while the poet was in mourning for his mother. The crimson leaves drenched by early winter showers are, he says, the very sleeves of a mourner, dyed red and soaked with tears of blood. Overlaying the red leaves on tear-soaked sleeves, he entrusts his grief for his mother to the scene of the season.
The next poem is one of mourning for a father, so poems of mourning for mother and father stand side by side.
The author, Ōshikōchi no Mitsune, was one of the compilers of the Kokinshū and one of the Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry.

The first line, "the Godless Month," is the tenth lunar month, the start of winter.
The second line, "soaked by showers," names shigure, the intermittent rain of late autumn and early winter, which also stands for tears.
The third line, "the crimson leaves," calls to mind by their red the color of tears of blood shed in grief.
The fourth line, "of one in sorrow," uses wabibito, a person sunk in grief, here the mourning poet himself.
The last line, "are the sleeves," expresses realization with keri, likening the leaves to tear-soaked sleeves.
Author: Oshikochi no Mitsune
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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