Yo o samumi nezamete kikeba oshi zo naku harai mo aezu shimo ya oku ran - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

夜を寒み寝覚めて聞けば鴛鴦ぞ鳴く
払ひもあへず霜や置くらん

Roma-ji: Yo o samumi nezamete kikeba oshi zo naku harai mo aezu shimo ya oku ran
English Translation: The night is so cold
I wake, and listening, hear
the mandarin ducks cry—
unable to brush away
the frost that settles on them?
Meaning: The night is so cold that I wake, and as I listen the mandarin ducks are crying—is the frost settling on them faster than they can brush it away?
Commentary: Book Four Winter Poems 228

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Waking in the cold and hearing the mandarin ducks cry, the poet wonders whether they cry because they cannot brush away the frost settling on their wings. The cold of the night is depicted through the frost on the ducks' wings, known only by their voices.

First line, "yo o samumi," means "the night being cold." It is the same first line as 226 in this book, and the second line is identical as well.
Second line, "nezamete kikeba," means "when I wake and listen."
Third line, "oshi zo naku," means "the mandarin ducks are crying," with the emphatic particle "zo" resolved by the attributive "naku." The poem pauses here. Whereas 226 envied the ducks' intimacy, this poem feels for the cold they endure.
Fourth line, "harai mo aezu," means "unable to brush it all away," with "au" attached to a verb meaning "to do completely."
Final line, "shimo ya oku ran," means "is frost settling, I wonder," with the questioning particle "ya" resolved by the attributive "ran." In 232 of this book the ducks' wings appear again, their wind chilling the ice of the pond.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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