Musubu te no shizuku ni nigoru yama no i no akade mo hito ni wakarenuru kana - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

結ぶ手の雫に濁る山の井の
飽かでも人に別れぬるかな

Roma-ji: Musubu te no shizuku ni nigoru yama no i no akade mo hito ni wakarenuru kana
English Translation: Clouded by the drops
from the hands that scoop it up,
the mountain spring:
still unsatisfied, I find
I have parted from that one.
Meaning: Like a mountain spring clouded by the drops from cupped hands, so that one cannot drink one's fill, I have parted from her with my heart unsatisfied.
Commentary: Book Nineteen Miscellaneous Love Poems 1228

Headnote: "On the mountain road to Shiga, seeing a woman wash and scoop up water at a mountain spring to drink"
The poet says that, as one cannot drink one's fill of a mountain spring clouded by drops from cupped hands, he has parted from her with his longing unsatisfied. The headnote shows he composed it on the mountain road to Shiga on seeing a woman wash her hands at a mountain spring and scoop up water to drink. Taking as preface the shallow spring that clouds at once with drops from the hand, so that one cannot drink as one wishes, it sings of a lingering parting from a woman met by chance. The next poem, 1229, was composed in the light of this one.
The author, Ki no Tsurayuki, was the leading compiler of the Kokinshū, wrote its kana preface and the Tosa Diary. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.
It is also included, with a different headnote, among the parting poems of the Kokinshū. Fujiwara no Shunzei praised it highly in his Korai Fūteishō.

First line, "musubu te no," means "of the hands that scoop," "musubu" meaning to cup the palms together to take up water.
Second line, "shizuku ni nigoru," means "clouded by the drops," the shallow spring growing muddy at once from the drops falling from the hands.
Third line, "yama no i no," means "of the mountain spring." Up to here the lines form a preface leading to "akade" in the fourth line. It shares this line with the third line of the next poem, 1229, "yama no i no."
Fourth line, "akade mo hito ni," means "from her, unsatisfied," layering a thirst not quenched with a parting full of regret.
Final line, "wakarenuru kana," means "I have parted," with "nuru" the attributive form of the perfective "nu" and "kana" exclamatory.
Author: Ki no Tsurayuki
Source: Shui Wakashu
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