Nuretsutsu mo kuru to mieshi wa natsubiki no tebiki ni taenu ito ni ya ariken - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

濡れつつもくると見えしは夏引きの
手引きに絶えぬ糸にやありけん

Roma-ji: Nuretsutsu mo kuru to mieshi wa natsubiki no tebiki ni taenu ito ni ya ariken
English Translation: That you came, though wet,
spinning to me through the rain—
was it a thread
of summer silk, drawn by hand,
that could never break, I wonder
Meaning: When you used to come to me even soaked with rain, was it because your heart was like the summer-spun thread that does not break, however hard the hand draws it?
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems V 976

Headnote: "Composed when a man who used to come undeterred by rain to chat with her passed by her gate and said, 'The rain is so heavy that I will go on past.'"
The poet asks whether, when he used to come even soaked with rain, his heart was like summer-spun thread that does not break however the hand draws it. With irony she reproaches a man who once came regardless of rain but now passes by because of it, likening him to a thread that has snapped.
According to the headnote, a man who used to come undeterred by rain and chat idly with her passed by her gate saying the rain was too heavy and he would go on, and she answered with this. Linking words tied to thread, reeling, drawing and breaking, she reproaches his change of heart.
The poet is listed as anonymous, and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Nuretsutsu mo," means "even while getting wet."
The second line, "kuru to mieshi wa," means "that you seemed to come," with "kuru" joining "kuru," to come, and "kuru," to reel thread.
The third line, "natsubiki no," means "of thread drawn in summer," leading to "tebiki" in the fourth line.
The fourth line, "tebiki ni taenu," means "that does not break when drawn by hand," likening the man's heart to thread.
The last line, "ito ni ya ariken," means "was it such a thread," with "ya" an interrogative binding particle closed by the attributive "ken." It implies that the thread has now broken.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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