Naki hito no kage dani mienu yarimizu no soko wa namida ni nagashite zo koshi - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

なき人の影だに見えぬ遣水の
底は涙に流してぞ来し

Roma-ji: Naki hito no kage dani mienu yarimizu no soko wa namida ni nagashite zo koshi
English Translation: In the garden stream
where not even the shadow
of the dead appears,
into its depths my tears
I let flow as I came home
Meaning: Into the depths of the garden stream, where not even the reflection of the one now gone can be seen, I let my tears flow before I came away.
Commentary: Book Twenty Congratulatory Poems 1402

Headnote: "Sent to someone at the house of a person who had died, the morning after she had visited and returned."
Ise says that into the depths of the garden stream, where the dead one's image no longer appears, she let her tears flow before coming away. Visiting the house of the dead, she finds no trace of the face once reflected in its garden stream, and tells of having added her own tears to its current.
According to the headnote, she visited the house of someone who had died, and on the morning after returning, sent this to someone in that house.
The poet, Ise, was a daughter of Fujiwara no Tsugukage, Governor of Ise, and served Fujiwara no Onshi, consort of Emperor Uda. She received the emperor's favor and later bore Nakatsukasa to Prince Atsuyoshi. One of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals, she is represented in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu by "Naniwagata mijikaki ashi no fushi no ma mo."

The first line, "Naki hito no," means "of the one who is gone."
The second line, "kage dani mienu," means "where not even the image appears," overlaid with a reflection in the water.
The third line, "yarimizu no," means "of the garden stream."
The fourth line, "soko wa namida ni," means "its depths, with my tears."
The last line, "nagashite zo koshi," means "I let them flow and came away," with "zo" closed by the attributive "shi." "Flow" is an associated word with "stream."
Author: Ise
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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