Shikitae no makura yu kukuru namida ni zo ukine o shikeru koi no shigeki ni

敷栲の枕ゆくくる涙にぞ
浮寝をしける恋の繁きに

Roma-ji: Shikitae no makura yu kukuru namida ni zo ukine o shikeru koi no shigeki ni
English Translation: On the spread bedclothes
through the pillow streams my tears,
on those very tears
I have slept as if afloat,
so dense has my longing grown
Meaning: My tears streamed through my pillow until I slept as though floating on them, so fierce was my longing.
Commentary: Book Four Love Poems 507

Headnote: "A poem by the Suruga Uneme"
So fierce is the poet's love that her tears stream under her pillow, until she sleeps as though floating on them. Ukine means sleeping afloat on water; the exaggeration of her tears conveys vividly the anguish of a sleepless night.
The author, the Suruga Uneme, appears to have been a palace attendant sent to the court from the province of Suruga; her name has not come down.

First line, "On the spread bedclothes," is shikitae no, a pillow word for "pillow," meaning cloth spread for a bed.
Second line, "through the pillow streams my tears," uses yu, an old particle of passage, with kukuru, water slipping through: flowing along and under the pillow.
Third line, "on those very tears," singles out the tears with the particle zo, closed by keru in the fourth line.
Fourth line, "I have slept as if afloat," names ukine, sleeping afloat, an exaggeration of her many tears; keru closes the zo construction, and the poem breaks after this line.
Fifth line, "so dense has my longing grown," means because my love is so intense; by inversion the cause of her tears comes last.
Author: The Suruga Uneme
Source: Manyoshu
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