Natsukusa no tsuyuwakegoromo tsukenaku ni waga koromode no hiru toki mo naki

夏草の露別け衣着けなくに
我が衣手の干る時もなき

Roma-ji: Natsukusa no tsuyuwakegoromo tsukenaku ni waga koromode no hiru toki mo naki
English Translation: Through the summer grass
the robe for parting the dew—
I have not put it on,
yet the sleeves that I have worn
never have a time to dry.
Meaning: I have not worn a robe for parting the dew of the summer grass, and yet my sleeves never have a moment to dry.
Commentary: Book Ten Summer Love Poems 1994

Headnote: "Love Expressed Through Dew"
This poem says the speaker's sleeves never dry though she has not walked through the dew of summer grass, expressing sleeves wet with the tears of love. Its headnote is "Love Expressed Through Dew." Overlaying a robe wet with dew and sleeves wet with tears, it indirectly shows the sorrow of a love whose tears never cease. The expression of entrusting what wets the sleeves to dew is common in later waka as well.

The first line, "of the summer grass," sets the scene.
The second line, "tsuyuwakegoromo," is thought to be the robe worn when walking through dew.
In the third line, "tsukenaku ni," "naku ni" is a nominalized negative with "ni": though I have not worn it.
In the fourth line, "waga koromode no," "koromode" means sleeves.
The last line, "hiru toki mo naki," with no time to dry, closes by hinting at sleeves wet with tears.
Source: Manyoshu
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