Furu hodo mo hakanaku miyuru awayuki no urayamashiku mo uchitokuru kana - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

降るほどもはかなく見ゆる淡雪の
うらやましくもうちとくるかな

Roma-ji: Furu hodo mo hakanaku miyuru awayuki no urayamashiku mo uchitokuru kana
English Translation: Even as it falls
the light snow seems so fleeting,
and how I envy
the way that it melts away,
so readily softening.
Meaning: The light snow, so fleeting even as it falls, melts away so readily—how I envy it, when your heart will not soften toward me.
Commentary: Book Four Winter Poems 244

Headnote: "When I had been courting a woman for some years and she still kept her distance, on a day when snow fell"
The poet says he envies the light snow, which melts so readily even as it falls, conveying reproach to a woman who will not open her heart to him. Overlaying the snow's melting with the softening of her heart, he makes his appeal indirectly. According to the headnote, it was sent on a snowy day to a woman he had been courting for years who still would not warm to him.
The author, written as Motosuke, is Kiyohara no Motosuke. A grandson of Kiyohara no Fukayabu, he took part in compiling the Gosenshū and in reading the Man'yōshū as one of the Five Men of the Pear Chamber. He was the father of Sei Shōnagon and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "furu hodo mo," means "even as it falls."
Second line, "hakanaku miyuru," means "looking so fleeting."
Third line, "awayuki no," means "the light snow," soft snow that melts easily.
Fourth line, "urayamashiku mo," means "enviably." 226 in this book uses the same fourth line in envying the mandarin ducks, sharing the lament of one who is alone.
Final line, "uchitokuru kana," plays on the snow melting and a heart softening, with "kana" exclamatory.
Author: Kiyohara no Motosuke
Source: Shui Wakashu
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