Aki fukami yoso ni nomi kiku shiratsuyu no ta ga koto no ha ni kakaru naruran - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

秋深みよそにのみ聞く白露の
誰が言の葉にかかるなるらん

Roma-ji: Aki fukami yoso ni nomi kiku shiratsuyu no ta ga koto no ha ni kakaru naruran
English Translation: Autumn is so deep—
the white dew I hear of
only from afar,
upon whose words, I wonder,
has it come to settle now
Meaning: Now that autumn is so deep, upon whose words, I wonder, has the white dew I heard of only from afar come to settle?
Commentary: Book Seven Autumn Poems III 425

Headnote: "When a man she knew gradually stopped coming, and his parent, hearing of it, told him he must still go and visit her—and she had heard of this—he afterward came to her."
She asks upon whose words the white dew, which she had heard of only as something remote now that autumn was deep, has come to settle. To the man visiting after so long, she ironically asks whose words have brought him.
According to the headnote, when the man she knew had gradually stopped visiting, his parent heard of it and told him to go and visit her after all; she heard of this, and afterward the man came. She sees through it: his visit came not from his own heart but from his parent's words.
The poet, called "the daughter of Lord Taira no Koremochi," was a daughter of Taira no Koremochi. Koremochi was of the Kanmu Heishi line and rose to Major Counselor. Little is known of the daughter herself.

The first line, "Aki fukami," means "since autumn is deep," in the mi-construction.
The second line, "yoso ni nomi kiku," means "that I hear of only as remote," showing that she had thought his visits no concern of hers.
The third line, "shiratsuyu no," means "the white dew," likening his visit to fleeting dew.
The fourth line, "ta ga koto no ha ni," means "on whose words," and the "ha," leaf, of "koto no ha," words, is an associated word with dew. It points to the words of the man's parent.
In the last line, "kakaru" overlays dew "settling" on leaves with "depending on" words: "upon whose words does it rest?"
Author: Daughter of Taira no Koremochi
Source: Gosen Wakashu
Prev Poem: Waga gotoku mono omoikerashi shiratsuyu no yo o itazura ni okiakashitsutsu
Next Poem: Tou koto no aki shimo mare ni kikoyuru wa kari ni ya ware o hito no tanomeshi