Watatsumi to arenishi toko o imasara ni harawaba sode ya awa to ukinan - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

わたつみと荒れにし床を今更に
払はば袖や泡と浮きなん

Roma-ji: Watatsumi to arenishi toko o imasara ni harawaba sode ya awa to ukinan
English Translation: This bed, grown wild
and stormy as the sea—
if you swept it now,
would my sleeves not rise and float
like foam upon the waves
Meaning: This bed has grown as wild as the sea with my tears. If you were to sweep it now, after all this time, would my sleeves not float away like foam?
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems III 757

Headnote: "Reply."
In this reply the poet says that if he swept the bed now, after it has grown wild as the sea, her sleeves would float away like foam. She retorts that her tears from long waiting have made the bed a sea, and that sweeping it clean now is too late.
It is the reply to the preceding poem, 756.
The poet, Ise, was a daughter of Fujiwara no Tsugukage, Governor of Ise, and served Onshi, consort of Emperor Uda. One of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals, her "naniwagata mijikaki ashi no fushi no ma mo" is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.

The first line, "Watatsumi to," means "like the sea," referring to the bed that tears have turned into a sea.
The second line, "arenishi toko o," means "the bed that has grown wild," taking up "furinishi toko mo" in the fourth line of the preceding poem.
The third line, "imasara ni," means "now, after all this time."
The fourth line, "harawaba sode ya," means "if you swept it, would my sleeves," taking up "uchiharau beku" in the last line of the preceding poem. "Ya" is an interrogative particle.
The last line, "awa to ukinan," means "float away like foam," closing with the attributive "nan" in answer to "ya" in the fourth line, a kakarimusubi pattern.
Author: Ise
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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