Wasuraruru mi o utsusemi no karakoromo kaesu wa tsuraki kokoro narikeri - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

忘らるる身をうつせみの唐衣
返すはつらき心なりけり

Roma-ji: Wasuraruru mi o utsusemi no karakoromo kaesu wa tsuraki kokoro narikeri
English Translation: I am the forgotten,
yet like a cicada's shell
this Chinese robe
you have sent back—so it was
your heart that proved unkind
Meaning: It is I who am forgotten, and yet you send back this robe like an empty cicada shell. It was your heart, after all, that was cold.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems IV 804

Headnote: "Reply."
The poet says that he is the one forgotten, and yet she returns the robe like a cicada's shell, showing that it is her heart that is cold. Reproached in the preceding poem for coldness, the man retorts that the one who sends back the robes is the heartless one.
It is the reply to the preceding poem, 803, taking up its "utsusemi" and "kara" in "utsusemi no karakoromo."
The poet, Minamoto no Kiyoki, is a figure whose career is not known in detail.

The first line, "Wasuraruru," means "to be forgotten," "ruru" being the attributive of the passive auxiliary "ru."
The second line, "mi o utsusemi no," means "I who am, like a cast-off shell," taking up the preceding poem's "utsusemi" and layering it with the emptiness of his own self.
The third line, "karakoromo," a fine Chinese-style robe, refers here to the returned garments. 848 and 849 in this book also set "karakoromo" in their third lines.
The fourth line, "kaesu wa tsuraki," means "it is unkind to send it back."
The last line, "kokoro narikeri," means "it was your heart, after all," with "keri" expressing sudden realization.
Author: Minamoto no Kiyoki
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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