Yo no naka no uki mo tsuraki mo tsugenaku ni mazu shiru mono wa namida narikeri - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

世の中の憂きもつらきも告げなくに
まづ知るものは涙なりけり

Roma-ji: Yo no naka no uki mo tsuraki mo tsugenaku ni mazu shiru mono wa namida narikeri
English Translation: The sorrows of the world,
its bitterness and its pain,
though none has told of them,
the first of all to know them
is ever my own tears.
Meaning: No one has told me of the sorrows and pains of this world, yet the first to know of them are always my tears.
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems II 941

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poem says that tears flow before anyone tells us of the world's sorrows. By treating tears as if they knew grief before the heart does, it expresses how deep the sadness of this painful world is.
It shares its closing line, "it is my tears," with the previous poem, 940, so two poems on tears stand together. Like "the first thing is to lament" in 936, it also speaks of grief appearing before anything else.
The author is recorded as anonymous, and the name has not come down to us.

The first line, "the sorrows of the world," takes up the theme established since the opening poem, 933.
The second line, "its bitterness and its pain," piles up words of similar meaning to intensify the grief.
The third line, "though none has told of them," uses nakuni in a concessive sense.
The fourth line, "the first of all to know them," personifies tears as the ones who know.
The last line, "is ever my own tears," is the same as that of the previous poem, with keri expressing exclamation.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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