Shiranami no uchisawagarete tachishikaba mi o ushio ni zo sode wa nurenishi - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

白浪のうち騒がれて立ちしかば
身をうしほにぞ袖は濡れにし

Roma-ji: Shiranami no uchisawagarete tachishikaba mi o ushio ni zo sode wa nurenishi
English Translation: Like the white-capped waves
they clamored all around us,
so I had to rise,
and in the brine of my sorrow
my sleeves are soaked right through
Meaning: Because they raised a clamor like the white waves and I had to leave, my sleeves are soaked through in the brine of my sorrow.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems II 1158

Headnote: "When people made a fuss as a man was talking with me, he went home and sent this the next morning."
The poet says that because he was clamored at like the white waves and had to leave, his sleeves were soaked in the brine of sorrow. A man forced to leave when his talk with a woman stirred a fuss voices his tears of regret through a string of words related to waves and tide.
According to the headnote, people made a fuss over a man talking with a woman, and he went home and sent this the next morning. The woman's reply follows in the next poem, forming an exchange.
The poet is listed as anonymous, and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Shiranami no," means "like the white waves." "Shiranami" also appears in 1154 of this book.
The second line, "uchisawagarete," means "being clamored at," with "re" the passive auxiliary. It overlays the tossing of waves with the people's fuss.
The third line, "tachishikaba," means "since I rose to leave," with "tachi" also suggesting rising waves.
The fourth line, "mi o ushio ni zo," means "in the brine of my sorrow," with "ushio" joining "ushi," sorrowful, and "ushio," brine. "Zo" is an emphatic binding particle closed by the attributive "shi" in the last line.
The last line, "sode wa nurenishi," means "my sleeves are soaked," treating sleeves wet with tears as soaked by the tide and closing the poem with sea imagery.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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