Tomokakumo iu koto no ha no mienu kana izura wa tsuyu no kakaridokoro wa - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

ともかくも言ふ言の葉の見えぬかな
いづらは露のかかり所は

Roma-ji: Tomokakumo iu koto no ha no mienu kana izura wa tsuyu no kakaridokoro wa
English Translation: Not a single word,
not one leaf of anything
comes to me from you—
where then is the place
for the dewdrops to rest
Meaning: Not a word of any kind comes from you. Where, then, is the leaf on which the dew might rest?
Commentary: Book Ten Love Poems II 609

Headnote: "Sent because Kunimochi had not been in touch."
The poet says that no word of any kind comes from him, and asks where the leaf might be on which the dew could rest. She reproaches a man who sends no news, likening his silence to the absence of a leaf for the dew to settle on.
According to the headnote, she sent it because a man called Kunimochi had not been in touch.
The poet, called "Hon'in no Ukyō," was a lady-in-waiting known as Ukyō who served at the Hon'in, the residence of Fujiwara no Tokihira. Few details of her life have come down to us.

The first line, "Tomokakumo," means "anything at all, in whatever way."
The second line, "iu koto no ha no," means "of words you might send," and the "ha," leaf, in "koto no ha" is an associated word with the "dew" in the fourth line.
The third line, "mienu kana," means "I see none," and the poem pauses here.
In the fourth line, "izura" means "where." "Tsuyu," dew, also carries the sense of something slight.
The last line, "kakaridokoro wa," means "the place where the dew might rest," inverted with the fourth line. It holds the lament: where is there anything, however slight, to rely on?
Author: Hon'in no Ukyō
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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