Aki no no ni oku shiratsuyu o kesa mireba tama ya shikeru to odorokaretsutsu - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

秋の野に置く白露を今朝見れば
玉や敷けると驚かれつつ

Roma-ji: Aki no no ni oku shiratsuyu o kesa mireba tama ya shikeru to odorokaretsutsu
English Translation: When this morning I
looked on the white dew laid
on the autumn fields,
"Are these jewels spread about?"
I wondered, startled again and again
Meaning: When I looked this morning at the white dew on the autumn fields, I was startled, wondering whether jewels had been spread across them.
Commentary: Book Six Autumn Poems II 309

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When, in the Engi era, the emperor called for poems."
The poet says that looking this morning at the white dew on the autumn fields, he is startled, wondering whether jewels have been spread there. Dew shining everywhere in the morning light is likened to jewels laid across the ground.
From 306 to 309, four poems on white dew stand together under the headnote "When, in the Engi era, the emperor called for poems." This poem is the fourth.
The poet, called "Tadamine," is Mibu no Tadamine. He was one of the compilers of the Kokin Wakashū and served as a clerk of the Right Gate Guards, among other posts. He is credited with the treatise on poetry Wakatai Jisshu and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets. His "ariake no tsurenaku mieshi wakare yori" is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.

The first line, "Aki no no ni," means "on the autumn fields." 312 of this book opens with the same line.
The second line, "oku shiratsuyu o," means "the white dew that lies there," and 312 of this book also sets "oku shiratsuyu no" in its second line.
In the third line, "ba" gives a definite condition: "when I looked this morning."
In the fourth line, "ya" is an interrogative particle and "ru" the attributive form of the continuative auxiliary "ri": "whether jewels have been spread." Against the scattering jewels of the preceding poem, this poem sings of jewels laid across the ground.
In the last line, "re" is the continuative form of the spontaneous auxiliary "ru," and "tsutsu" expresses repetition: "I am startled again and again."
Author: Mibu no Tadamine
Source: Gosen Wakashu
Prev Poem: Shiratsuyu ni kaze no fukishiku aki no no wa tsuranuki tomenu tama zo chirikeru
Next Poem: Oku kara ni chigusa no iro ni naru mono o shiratsuyu to nomi hito no iuran