Katagishi no matsu no ukine to shinobishi wa sareba yo tsui ni arawarenikeri - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

片岸の松のうきねと忍びしは
さればよつひに現れにけり

Roma-ji: Katagishi no matsu no ukine to shinobishi wa sareba yo tsui ni arawarenikeri
English Translation: The pine on the cliff
with its roots laid bare, so too
my sad sleep I hid,
and just as I feared it would,
at last it has come to light.
Meaning: The sorrowful sleep I kept hidden, like the bare roots of a pine on a cliff edge, has at last, just as I feared, come to light.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 743

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poem says that the love the poet hid in sorrow, like the exposed roots of a pine on a cliff, has at last come to light, just as feared. Pivoting "ukine" on the pine's "floating roots" and "ukine," sorrowful sleep alone, it lays over the pine baring its roots on the cliff a love that could not be concealed. Where 739 wished to be revealed like the pine's roots, this poem laments that it has in fact been revealed, closing the sequence on secret love.

First line, "katagishi no," means "on the cliff-sided bank."
Second line, "matsu no ukine to," is a pivot word: "ukine" means the pine's "floating roots" and "ukine," sorrowful sleep alone. It shares pine roots with the fourth line of 739 in this book, "matsu no ne nagara."
Third line, "shinobishi wa," means "the love I hid," with "shi" the attributive form of the past auxiliary "ki."
Fourth line, "sareba yo tsui ni," means "just as I feared, at last," with "sareba yo" a phrase used when one's expectation proves true.
Final line, "arawarenikeri," means "has come to light," showing that the wish of the final line of 739, "arawarenaba ya," has come true.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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