Shirakumo no kakaru soragoto suru hito o yama no fumoto ni yosetekeru kana - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

白雲のかかるそら言する人を
山の麓に寄せてけるかな

Roma-ji: Shirakumo no kakaru soragoto suru hito o yama no fumoto ni yosetekeru kana
English Translation: As white clouds hang
across the sky, such empty words
the one who speaks,
to the foot of my mountain
I have let them draw so near.
Meaning: Like a white cloud hanging in the sky, one who speaks such empty words I have let draw near to the foot of my mountain.
Commentary: Book Nineteen Miscellaneous Love Poems 1218

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poet says that, like a white cloud hanging in the sky, one who speaks such empty words has been allowed to draw close to the foot of the mountain. It seems to answer the preceding poem, 1217, which said there is no mountain the white cloud does not cling to: it retorts that the charge of fickleness is itself empty talk, while lamenting having become involved with such a person.

First line, "shirakumo no," means "the white cloud," leading to "kakaru" and "sora" in the second line. It shares this word with the third line of the preceding poem, 1217, "shirakumo no."
Second line, "kakaru soragoto," is a pivot word: "kakaru" means a cloud "hanging" and "such," and "sora" means the "sky" and the "empty" of empty words. It comes to mean "such baseless words."
Third line, "suru hito o," means "the one who speaks them."
Fourth line, "yama no fumoto ni," means "to the foot of the mountain," bringing in the mountain through the white cloud and pointing to the poet who let the other draw near.
Final line, "yosetekeru kana," means "I have let them come near," with "te" perfective, "keru" the attributive form of the past auxiliary "keri," and "kana" exclamatory.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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