Nami no ue ni mieshi kojima no shimagakure yuku sora mo nashi kimi ni wakarete - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

浪の上に見えし小島の島隠れ
行く空もなし君に別れて

Roma-ji: Nami no ue ni mieshi kojima no shimagakure yuku sora mo nashi kimi ni wakarete
English Translation: The little island
that I saw above the waves
has hidden behind isles;
I know not where my sky will lead,
now that I have parted from you.
Meaning: Like the little island I saw above the waves, now hidden behind other isles, I do not know where my sky will lead, now that I have parted from you.
Commentary: Book Six Parting Poems 352

Headnote: "When Kasa no Kanaoka crossed to China, a reply to the long poem his wife had composed"
As the little island once visible above the waves vanishes behind other isles, the poet says that, having parted from his wife, he cannot tell where his road beneath the sky will lead and his heart is unsteady. Onto the receding island he lays the forlornness of crossing to a foreign land after parting from his wife. According to the headnote, when Kasa no Kanaoka crossed to China, this was his reply to a long poem his wife had composed.
The author, written as Kanaoka, is Kasa no Kanaoka. He is said to have lived in the time of Emperor Ninmyō, but little is known of his life.

First line, "nami no ue ni," means "above the waves." Against the overland partings of the preceding poems, here a parting on the sea is sung of.
Second line, "mieshi kojima no," means "of the little island that I saw," with "shi" the attributive of the past auxiliary "ki."
Third line, "shimagakure," means "hidden behind the isles." Following "kakureyuku" and "kakururu" in 350 and 351 of this book, things that recede and are hidden are again sung of.
Fourth line, "yuku sora mo nashi," means "I know not where the sky will lead," that is, the heart cannot settle, and the poem pauses here.
Final line, "kimi ni wakarete," means "having parted from you," giving by inversion the reason for the unsettled heart.
Author: Kasa no Kanaoka
Source: Shui Wakashu
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