Yo o samumi nezamete kikeba oshidori no urayamashiku mo minaru naru kana - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

夜を寒み寝覚めて聞けば鴛鴦の
うらやましくもみなるなるかな

Roma-ji: Yo o samumi nezamete kikeba oshidori no urayamashiku mo minaru naru kana
English Translation: The night is so cold
I wake, and listening, hear
the mandarin ducks—
how I envy them, it seems
they nestle close on the water.
Meaning: The night is so cold that I wake, and as I listen, the mandarin ducks seem to be nestled together, at home on the water—how I envy them.
Commentary: Book Four Winter Poems 226

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Woken in the night by the cold, the poet hears the mandarin ducks and envies the birds, at home on the water and nestled close as a pair. The cold and loneliness of sleeping alone emerge through the contrast with the devoted male and female ducks.

First line, "yo o samumi," means "the night being cold," a construction with "o" and an adjective stem plus "mi" expressing cause or reason. 228 in this book begins with the same first and second lines, sharing the conceit of hearing mandarin ducks on waking in the night.
Second line, "nezamete kikeba," means "when I wake and listen."
Third line, "oshidori no," names the mandarin ducks, water birds whose male and female always stay together, a figure for a devoted couple.
Fourth line, "urayamashiku mo," means "enviably." 244 in this book uses the same fourth line, with light snow as the object of envy.
Final line, "minaru naru kana," plays on "minaru" as "to be at home on the water" and "to be intimately accustomed to one another," with "naru" an auxiliary of inference from sound and "kana" exclamatory.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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