Aware to mo omowaji mono o shirayuki no shita ni kietsutsu nao mo furu kana - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

あはれとも思はじものを白雪の
下に消えつつなほもふるかな

Roma-ji: Aware to mo omowaji mono o shirayuki no shita ni kietsutsu nao mo furu kana
English Translation: Though you will not feel
even pity for me,
like the snow so white,
melting from beneath, I still
go on falling, living on.
Meaning: You will not even pity me, and yet, like white snow that melts from beneath and still keeps falling, I waste away inside and still live on.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 653

Headnote: "A poem a man composed and sent to her"
The poem says that though the beloved will not even pity him, the poet, like white snow that melts from beneath yet still falls, wastes away inside yet still lives on. The headnote shows it is a poem a man composed and sent to a woman. Pivoting "furu" on snow "falling" and time "passing," it likens one who lives on while all but fading away with longing to snow that keeps falling as it melts. The next poem, 654, is the reply to this one.

First line, "aware to mo," means "even with pity," answered by the final line of the next poem, 654, "aware to omowame."
Second line, "omowaji mono o," means "though you will not feel," with "ji" an auxiliary of negative conjecture and "mono o" concessive.
Third line, "shirayuki no," means "like the white snow," leading into the fourth line and beyond.
Fourth line, "shita ni kietsutsu," means "melting from beneath," with "shita" also meaning the inner heart, speaking of wasting away unseen.
Final line, "nao mo furu kana," is a pivot word: "furu" means snow "falling" and time "passing." "Kana" is exclamatory.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
Prev Poem: Shinoburedo nao shiite koso omohoyure koi to iu mono no mi o shi saraneba
Next Poem: Hodo mo naku kienuru yuki wa kai mo nashi mi o tsumite koso aware to omowame