Shirakumo no mina hitomura ni mieshikado tachiidete kimi o omoisometeki - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

白雲のみなひとむらに見えしかど
立ち出でて君を思ひそめてき

Roma-ji: Shirakumo no mina hitomura ni mieshikado tachiidete kimi o omoisometeki
English Translation: Like the white clouds, you
all seemed one bank to my eyes,
but when you stepped forth,
drifting out from the rest,
my heart began to love you
Meaning: Like white clouds, you all seemed to me a single bank of white, but when you stepped out from among them, like a cloud drifting free, I began to love you.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems V 987

Headnote: "Sent the next morning to one of a group of women in white robes whom he had seen gathered on a moonlit night."
The poet says that all seemed a single bank of white cloud, but when she stepped forth he began to love her. Likening the women gathered in white robes under the moonlight to white clouds, he tells of being drawn to the one who stepped out from among them.
According to the headnote, he saw many women in white robes gathered on a bright moonlit night and the next morning sent this to one of them. White clouds, white robes and moonlit whiteness overlap, setting the beginning of love in a pure and lucid scene.
The poet, Fujiwara no Ariyoshi, was a poet of the time of the Gosenshu, and little more is known of his life.

The first line, "Shirakumo no," means "the white clouds," standing for the women in white robes.
The second line, "mina hitomura ni," means "all as one bank," "mura" meaning a cluster.
The third line, "mieshikado," means "though they seemed," with "shika" the realis of the past "ki" and "do" an adversative conjunctive particle.
The fourth line, "tachiidete kimi o," means "you who stepped forth," overlaying a cloud drifting from the bank and a woman stepping forward.
The last line, "omoisometeki," means "I began to love," with "some" echoing both "somu," to begin, and "somu," to dye, against the whiteness. "Ki" is the past auxiliary.
Author: Fujiwara no Ariyoshi
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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