Hitori nuru hito no kikaku ni kannazuki niwaka ni mo furu hatsushigure kana - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

ひとりぬる人の聞かくに神無月
にはかにも降る初時雨かな

Roma-ji: Hitori nuru hito no kikaku ni kannazuki niwaka ni mo furu hatsushigure kana
English Translation: For one who sleeps alone
to lie and listen to—
in the Godless Month,
how suddenly they come down,
the first of the winter showers
Meaning: While one who sleeps alone lies listening, how suddenly the first showers of the tenth month come pouring down.
Commentary: Book Eight Winter Poems 447

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet says that while one who sleeps alone lies listening, the first showers of the tenth month suddenly come down. In the stillness of a night spent alone, the sudden sound of the showers deepens the loneliness.
Taking up the cranes that cannot sleep alone in the preceding poem, this poem turns to a person sleeping alone. Like the opening poem, 443, it sings of the first showers, closing with "hatsushigure kana."
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us. The text gives the poet as "yomibito mo," which is treated here as "anonymous."

The first line, "Hitori nuru," means "who sleeps alone," taking up "hitorinegataki" in the preceding poem.
In the second line, "kikaku" is a ku-construction meaning "the hearing": "while that person listens."
The third line, "kannazuki," is another name for the tenth lunar month, the same word that opens the poem two earlier.
The fourth line, "niwaka ni mo furu," means "suddenly falls," conveying how unexpectedly the showers come.
In the last line, "kana" is an exclamatory particle: "ah, the first showers!" The poem closes by adding "kana" to a noun.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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