Okite yuku hito no kokoro o shiratsuyu no ware koso mazu wa omoikienure - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

おきて行く人の心をしらつゆの
我こそまづは思ひ消えぬれ

Roma-ji: Okite yuku hito no kokoro o shiratsuyu no ware koso mazu wa omoikienure
English Translation: Knowing not the heart
of one who rises and goes,
like the white dew,
it is I who, before all else,
have melted away in grief
Meaning: Not knowing the heart of the one who rises and leaves, it is I who, like the white dew, have faded away in sorrow first.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems IV 863

Headnote: "Reply."
The poet says that not knowing the heart of the one who rises and leaves, she has faded away first like white dew. To a man lamenting the pain of parting, she replies that she, who cannot know the true heart of one who leaves, is far sadder and seems about to vanish like the dew.
It is the reply to the preceding poem, 862, taking up its "white dew" and "okite."
The poet is listed as anonymous, and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Okite yuku," means "who rises and leaves," with "oki" meaning both dew "settling" and "rising," taking up "okite wabishiki," the fourth line of the preceding poem.
The second line, "hito no kokoro o," means "your heart."
The third line, "shiratsuyu no," means "like the white dew," with "shira" also meaning "not knowing," layering ignorance of his heart with the white dew. It takes up "shiratsuyu no," the third line of the preceding poem.
The fourth line, "ware koso mazu wa," means "it is I who first," with "koso" an emphatic binding particle.
The last line, "omoikienure," means "have faded away in grief," "kie," to vanish, being a word associated with dew. It closes with the perfective "nure" in answer to "koso" in the fourth line.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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