Kaze samumi naku akimushi no namida koso kusaba irodoru tsuyu to okurame - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

風寒み鳴く秋虫の涙こそ
草葉色どる露と置くらめ

Roma-ji: Kaze samumi naku akimushi no namida koso kusaba irodoru tsuyu to okurame
English Translation: The wind is so cold
that the insects of autumn cry,
and their tears it must be
that lie as dew upon the grass,
coloring the leaves
Meaning: The tears of autumn insects, crying because the wind is cold—those must be what settle as dew, coloring the grass and leaves.
Commentary: Book Five Autumn Poems I 263

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet imagines that the tears of autumn insects, crying because the wind is cold, are what settle as the dew that colors the grass and leaves. Seeing the dew on the grass as insect tears, and those tears as what change the color of the leaves, it conveys the deepening of autumn.
After the run of poems on insect voices, this poem sees the insects' tears in the dew. It is the same conceit as 242 of this book, which saw the Weaver Maid's tears in the white dew.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Kaze samumi," means "because the wind is cold," the so-called mi construction. It recalls "no o samumi" in 261 of this book.
The second line, "naku akimushi no," means "of the autumn insects that cry."
In the third line, "koso" is an emphatic particle, stressing "it is the tears."
The fourth line, "kusaba irodoru," means "coloring the grass and leaves." Where "irodoru kaze" in 223 and 224 of this book made the wind the colorer, this poem makes it the dew.
In the last line, "rame" is the perfective form of the auxiliary of present conjecture "ramu," completing the kakarimusubi pattern with "koso" in the third line: "they must lie as dew."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
Prev Poem: Aki kureba nomose ni mushi no orimidaru koe no aya o ba tare ka kiruran
Next Poem: Akikaze no fukishiku matsu wa yama nagara nami tachikaeru oto zo kikoyuru