Kimi wa tada sode bakari o ya kutasuran au ni wa mi o mo kau to koso kike - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

君はただ袖ばかりをや朽たすらん
逢ふには身をもかふとこそ聞け

Roma-ji: Kimi wa tada sode bakari o ya kutasuran au ni wa mi o mo kau to koso kike
English Translation: Is it only, then,
your sleeves that you let rot away?
for meeting, I've heard,
people will give in exchange
even their very lives.
Meaning: Do you let only your sleeves rot away? I have heard that to meet, people give even their lives in exchange.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 675

Headnote: "Reply"
The poem retorts, asking whether the man lets only his sleeves rot away, when she has heard that people give even their lives for a meeting. The headnote shows it is the reply to the preceding poem, 674. Taking up "sode wa kuchinikeri" of that poem, it tests his sincerity, implying that a love that only rots one's sleeves is still shallow. The device of exchanging life for a meeting appears also in 682 and 684.

First line, "kimi wa tada," means "you, only."
Second line, "sode bakari o ya," means "only your sleeves," with the binding particle "ya" interrogative and resolved by the attributive "ran" in the third line.
Third line, "kutasuran," means "do you let rot," with "kutasu" meaning to let rot. The poem breaks after this third line, taking up the third line of the preceding poem, 674, "kuchinikeri."
Fourth line, "au ni wa mi o mo," means "for meeting, even one's life."
Final line, "kau to koso kike," means "they give in exchange, I have heard," with the binding particle "koso" resolved by the perfective form "kike." It shares the device of the second line of 682, "au ni kau to ka," and the final line of 684, "au ni kaetemu."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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