Koto no ha ni taesenu tsuyu wa okuramu ya mukashi oboyuru madoi shitareba - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

言の葉に絶えせぬ露は置くらむや
昔おぼゆるまとゐしたれば

Roma-ji: Koto no ha ni taesenu tsuyu wa okuramu ya mukashi oboyuru madoi shitareba
English Translation: Upon the leaves of words
might the dew that never fails
be settling now,
for here we sit in our circle
as in the days of old
Meaning: On the leaves of our words, might there be settling a dew of tears that never ceases? For here we sit together in a circle that brings back the days of old.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1097

Headnote: "When the Cloistered Emperor first took the tonsure and was traveling the mountains, the empress, the consorts and the ladies of the wardrobe still served together in one palace; in the third year he came back, and on the occasion when he shared his food with them in the same place as in the old days."
The poet asks whether a dew of tears that never ceases might be settling on the leaves of words, since they sit together in a circle that brings back the old days. Into the dew on the leaves of words she puts both her emotion at gathering once more around the Cloistered Emperor and her tears that things are no longer as they were.
According to the headnote, while Cloistered Emperor Uda traveled the mountains after taking the tonsure, the empress, consorts and other ladies went on serving together in one palace; in the third year he returned, and she composed this when he shared his food with them in the same place as before. Ise's reply follows in the next poem, and 1117 and 1118 of this book give another exchange between the Shichijō Empress and Ise, so the two exchanges on the Cloistered Emperor's renunciation answer each other.
The poet, "the Shichijō Empress," is Fujiwara no Onshi. A daughter of Fujiwara no Mototsune, she became a consort of Emperor Uda and was later honored as Empress Dowager. She was so called because she lived at the Shichijō palace, and the poet Ise served her.

The first line, "Koto no ha ni," means "on the leaves of words," and through "leaves" leads to "dew" in the second line.
The second line, "taesenu tsuyu wa," means "the never-ceasing dew," overlaying dew with tears.
The third line, "okuramu ya," means "might it be settling," with "ramu" conjecture about the present and "ya" a question. The poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "mukashi oboyuru," means "that brings back the past."
The last line, "madoi shitareba," means "since we sit in a circle," adding in inverted order the reason for the conjecture in the third line. "Madoi" also appears in the second line of the next poem.
Author: Fujiwara no Onshi
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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