Kusagakure karenishi mizu wa nuruku tomo musubishi sode wa ima mo kawakazu - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

草隠れかれにし水はぬるくとも
むすびし袖は今も乾かず

Roma-ji: Kusagakure karenishi mizu wa nuruku tomo musubishi sode wa ima mo kawakazu
English Translation: Though the water hid
in the grass has dried and gone,
grown lukewarm and still,
the sleeves with which I scooped it
have not dried, even now.
Meaning: Though the water hidden in the grass has dried up and grown lukewarm, as your heart has left me and cooled, the sleeves with which I once scooped it, when we made our vows, are still not dry.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 760

Headnote: "To one he had once been intimate with"
The poem says that though the water hidden in the grass has dried up and grown lukewarm, the sleeves that scooped it are still not dry. The headnote shows it was sent to someone the poet had once been intimate with. Pivoting "kare" on water "drying up" and a person "growing distant," and "musubi" on "scooping" water and "binding" a vow, it pleads an unchanged love: though the other's heart has drifted and cooled, the poet's sleeves, once pledged, are still wet with tears.
The author, written as "Motosuke," is Kiyohara no Motosuke. The father of Sei Shōnagon, he took part in compiling the Gosenshū as one of the Five Men of the Pear Chamber. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "kusagakure," means "hidden in the grass."
Second line, "karenishi mizu wa," is a pivot word: "kare" means water "drying up" and a person "growing distant." "Ni" is perfective and "shi" past.
Third line, "nuruku tomo," means "even if it has grown lukewarm," overlaid with the cooling of the other's affection, with "tomo" a concessive supposition.
Fourth line, "musubishi sode wa," is a pivot word: "musubi" means "scooping" water in the hands and "binding" a vow.
Final line, "ima mo kawakazu," means "are not dry even now," speaking of sleeves still wet with tears. It shares wet sleeves with the final line of the next poem, 761, "mazu sohotsuramu."
Author: Kiyohara no Motosuke
Source: Shui Wakashu
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