Amagumo no haruru yo mo naku furu mono wa sode nomi nururu namida narikeri - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

天雲の晴るる夜もなく降るものは
袖のみ濡るる涙なりけり

Roma-ji: Amagumo no haruru yo mo naku furu mono wa sode nomi nururu namida narikeri
English Translation: Never a night clears
of the clouds in heaven's sky,
and what still falls
is only the tears I weep
that soak no more than my sleeves
Meaning: What keeps falling, with never a night when the clouds in the sky clear away, is the tears that soak only my sleeves.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems IV 814

Headnote: "Sent to a man when she had something on her mind."
The poet says that what falls, with no night when the clouds clear, is the tears that soak only her sleeves. Overlapping the tears that flow without pause with rain falling from a sky that never clears, she voices a sorrow that never lifts.
According to the headnote, the poem was sent to a man when something was troubling her. Where the opening poem, 795, likened longing to falling rain, this one makes tears the thing that falls, sharing the image of rain.
The poet is listed as anonymous, and the composer's name has not come down to us. The text gives the poet as "yomibito mo," indicating that the poem is anonymous.

The first line, "Amagumo no," means "of the clouds in the sky."
The second line, "haruru yo mo naku," means "with no night of clearing," layering days when the heart never brightens.
The third line, "furu mono wa," means "what falls," leading to tears through the image of rain. It echoes "furu ame no goto" in the last line of the opening poem, 795.
The fourth line, "sode nomi nururu," means "only my sleeves are soaked," with "nomi" limiting.
The last line, "namida narikeri," means "was my tears," the same last line as the preceding poem, 813.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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