Omoitsutsu ne naku ni akuru fuyu no yo no sode no kōri wa tokezu mo aru kana - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

思ひつつ寝なくに明くる冬の夜の
袖の氷は解けずもあるかな

Roma-ji: Omoitsutsu ne naku ni akuru fuyu no yo no sode no kōri wa tokezu mo aru kana
English Translation: Thinking of you still,
unable to sleep, the night
of winter dawns,
and the ice upon my sleeves
does not melt away at all
Meaning: Through a winter night that dawns while I lie thinking, unable to sleep, the ice on my tear-soaked sleeves does not melt at all.
Commentary: Book Eight Winter Poems 481

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet says that through a winter night that dawns while he lies thinking, unable to sleep, the ice on his sleeves does not melt. In tears shed in sleepless longing that freeze on the sleeves and do not thaw even at dawn, the poem conveys the depth of love.
463 in this book also sings of tear-wet sleeves freezing, sharing the conceit of overlaying the ice on the sleeves with the tears of love.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Omoitsutsu," means "thinking on and on," with "tsutsu" a conjunctive particle expressing repetition and continuation.
In the second line, "naku" is the ku-construction of the negative auxiliary "zu": "it dawns while I cannot sleep."
The third line, "fuyu no yo no," means "of the winter night."
The fourth line, "sode no kōri wa," means "the ice on the sleeves, wet with tears and frozen."
In the last line, "kana" is an exclamatory particle: "how it does not melt!"
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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