Aki no ta no ho no ue ni okeru shiratsuyu no kenubeku ware wa omōyuru kana - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

秋の田の穂の上に置ける白露の
消ぬべく我は思ほゆるかな

Roma-ji: Aki no ta no ho no ue ni okeru shiratsuyu no kenubeku ware wa omōyuru kana
English Translation: Like the white dew that
lies upon the ears of rice
in autumn's fields, so
as if I might vanish too,
that is how I come to feel.
Meaning: Like the white dew lying on the ears of rice in the autumn field, I feel as though I might vanish away with love.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 835

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem says that, like the white dew lying on the ears of rice in the autumn field, one is so lost in love as to seem about to vanish. The white dew on the rice ears in the upper verse forms a preface, laying over the fleeting dew a love so painful that one feels one might vanish.
The author, "Hitomaro," is Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, a court poet of the Asuka period revered as the sage of poetry and the foremost poet of the Man'yōshū, and one of the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets. Many Man'yōshū poems are included in the Shūishū under Hitomaro's name.
A similar poem is included in Book Ten of the Man'yōshū.

First line, "aki no ta no," means "of the autumn rice field." The next poem, 836, sings of a field where rice is reaped, sharing the autumn field.
Second line, "ho no ue ni okeru," means "lying on the ears of rice."
Third line, "shiratsuyu no," means "as the white dew vanishes," from the first line to here forming a preface leading to "kenu." It shares white dew with the third line of the preceding poem, 834, "shiratsuyu o."
Fourth line, "kenubeku ware wa," means "I, as if about to vanish," with "beku" the continuative form of the conjectural "beshi."
Final line, "omōyuru kana," means "so I feel," with "kana" exclamatory. Where the preceding poem wishes to become the white dew, this one says one is about to vanish like it, and the two form a pair.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Shui Wakashu
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