Tamakura no sukima no kaze mo samukariki mi wa narawashi no mono ni zo arikeru - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

手枕のすきまの風も寒かりき
身はならはしのものにぞありける

Roma-ji: Tamakura no sukima no kaze mo samukariki mi wa narawashi no mono ni zo arikeru
English Translation: Even the wind
through the gap of your arm-pillow
once felt cold to me;
the body, so I have found,
is a creature of its habits.
Meaning: Once even the wind slipping through the gap of your arm beneath my head felt cold; the body, I see, is a creature of habit.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 901

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem says that when we slept together, even the wind slipping through the small gap of your arm beneath my head felt cold, yet now I have grown used to sleeping alone; the body is a creature of habit. Contrasting past intimacy with present solitude, it sings a quiet reflection on a self that has grown used to sleeping alone.

First line, "tamakura no," means "of the arm laid beneath my head." It shares the arm-pillow, a sign of lovers lying together, with "hito no tamakura" in 849, the opening poem of this book.
Second line, "sukima no kaze mo," means "even the wind through the gap," with "mo" meaning "even."
Third line, "samukariki," means "was cold," with "ki" an auxiliary of past experience. The poem breaks here.
Fourth line, "mi wa narawashi no," means "the body, by habit." Taking up "naraite" of the preceding poem, 900, it sings of growing used.
Final line, "mono ni zo arikeru," means "so that is what it is," concluding in "keru," the attributive of the past "keri," in answer to the binding particle "zo." "Keri" expresses sudden realization.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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