Sumizome no kimi ga tamoto wa kumo nare ya taezu namida no ame to nomi furu - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

墨染の君が袂は雲なれや
絶えず涙の雨とのみ降る

Roma-ji: Sumizome no kimi ga tamoto wa kumo nare ya taezu namida no ame to nomi furu
English Translation: The ink-black sleeves
of your robes of mourning—
are they clouds of rain?
For unceasing, tears alone
come falling down as rain.
Meaning: Are the sleeves of your ink-black mourning robe clouds? Your tears fall from them endlessly, as nothing but rain.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Poems of Lament 843

Headnote: "Composed on visiting to console someone in mourning"
This poem was composed when the poet visited someone in mourning to offer condolences. He likens the sleeves of the black mourning robe to rain clouds, from which tears fall like rain without end. Overlaying the color of mourning clothes with the darkness of rain clouds, he shows sympathy for the other's deep grief.
The image of tears as rain also appears in the book's opening poem, 829, "O tears that I weep, fall as rain."
The author, Mibu no Tadamine, was one of the compilers of the Kokinshū and one of the Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry.

The first line, "ink-black," names the dark color that stands for mourning clothes.
The second line, "your sleeves," refers to the sleeves of the one in mourning.
The third line, "are they clouds," uses ya as a question, likening the black robe to rain clouds. The poem breaks after the third line.
The fourth line, "ceaselessly, tears," speaks of unending weeping.
The last line, "fall only as rain," means the tears fall and fall as rain. "Clouds," "rain," and "fall" are associated words.
Author: Mibu no Tadamine
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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