Ōzora ni yukikau tori no kumoji o zo hito no fumi minu mono to iu naru - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

大空に行きかふ鳥の雲路をぞ
人のふみ見ぬものと言ふなる

Roma-ji: Ōzora ni yukikau tori no kumoji o zo hito no fumi minu mono to iu naru
English Translation: The road through the clouds
where birds come and go upon
the great open sky—
that, they say, is a path
no one treads, no letter read
Meaning: They say the cloud-road where birds come and go across the great sky is a path no one ever treads—and so, it seems, my letters go unread.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems III 1222

Headnote: "He had sent letters to a woman, but she sent no reply, and later someone told him that she simply put them away without even reading them."
The poet says the cloud-road where birds cross the sky is said to be a path no one treads. Joining "fumi," treading, and "fumi," letter, he resents that his letters are put away unread, like a road in the clouds no one sets foot on.
According to the headnote, he sent letters to a woman but received no reply, and later someone told him she simply put them away without reading them.
The poet is anonymous and the name is not known.

The first line, "Ōzora ni," means "across the great sky."
The second line, "yukikau tori no," means "of the birds that come and go."
The third line, "kumoji o zo," means "the road through the clouds," with "zo" an emphatic binding particle.
The fourth line, "hito no fumi minu," is a pivot word on "fumi," treading and letter: no one treads it, and no one reads the letter.
The last line, "mono to iu naru," means "so they say," closing the "zo" with the attributive "naru," here marking hearsay.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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