Mi o wakete shimo ya okuran adabito no koto no ha sae ni kare mo yuku kana - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

身をわけて霜や置くらん
あだ人の言の葉さへにかれもゆくかな

Roma-ji: Mi o wakete shimo ya okuran adabito no koto no ha sae ni kare mo yuku kana
English Translation: Dividing itself,
does the frost settle here too?
Of the faithless one
even the leaves of words
are withering away
Meaning: Has the frost divided itself to settle everywhere? Even the words of my faithless lover are withering away, drawing apart from me.
Commentary: Book Eight Winter Poems 462

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet wonders whether the frost has divided itself to settle everywhere, for even the words of the faithless lover are withering like plants. Through frost that withers grass and trees, the poem laments that the lover's words have grown cold and his heart is drawing away.
Like 448 and 450 in this book, it overlays leaves with words to sing of a lover's change of heart.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Mi o wakete," means "dividing its own body," treating the frost as if it were a person.
In the second line, "ya" is an interrogative particle forming a kakarimusubi pattern with the attributive "ran": "does the frost settle?" The poem pauses here.
The third line, "adabito no," means "of the fickle, faithless one."
In the fourth line, "sae ni" means "even," and the "ha," leaf, of "koto no ha" is an associated word with "shimo" and "kare." It is the same line as the fourth line of 450.
In the last line, "kare" is a pivot word meaning both plants "withering" and the lover's heart "drawing away," with "kana" an exclamatory particle.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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