Yukiyukite awanu imo yue hisakata no amatsuyushimo ni nurenikeru kamo

行き行きて逢はぬ妹ゆゑひさかたの
天露霜に濡れにけるかも

Roma-ji: Yukiyukite awanu imo yue hisakata no amatsuyushimo ni nurenikeru kamo
English Translation: Going on and on,
for my love whom I can't meet,
from the far-off heavens
dew and frost have fallen down,
and I am soaked through by them
Meaning: Going on and on, all for my beloved whom I cannot meet, I have been drenched by the dew and frost that fall from the far heavens.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2395

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing One's Feelings Directly"
For a beloved he cannot meet no matter how often he goes to her, the speaker has been soaked through on the night road by dew and frost falling from the heavens. The poem gives concrete form to the hardship of a futile path of visits through the cold dew and frost that wet his body.
Following "for the girl who went away" in the preceding poem, this poem too, with "for my beloved whom I cannot meet," sings of suffering endured for the one loved. Where the preceding poem likened a wasted body to a morning shadow, this one depicts a body wet with dew and frost, and both express the pain of love through the figure of the speaker himself.
The author is unknown; according to the left note, the poem comes from the Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection. That collection is thought to contain both Hitomaro's own poems and poems by others that he recorded. Kakinomoto no Hitomaro was a court poet active in the reigns of Empress Jito and Emperor Monmu, and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "yukiyukite": "going and going," that is, going again and again. The repeated verb shows him making the journey over and over.
Second line, "awanu imo yue": "for my beloved who will not meet me." "Yue" marks a cause, and like "ko yue ni" in the preceding poem, it speaks of suffering for the beloved.
Third line, "hisakata no": a pillow word attached to "heaven." Calling up the heavens, it suggests the dew and frost descending from the sky.
Fourth line, "amatsuyushimo ni": "in the dew and frost of heaven," evoking the cold of night and the hardship of going back and forth through it.
Fifth line, "nurenikeru kamo": "how I have been soaked." The perfective "ni" and past "keru" with the exclamatory "kamo" close the poem with a sigh over a body drenched without having won its wish.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
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