Shiotaruru mi wa ware to nomi omoedomo yoso naru tazu mo ne o zo nakunaru - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

しほたるる身は我とのみ思へども
よそなる鶴も音をぞなくなる

Roma-ji: Shiotaruru mi wa ware to nomi omoedomo yoso naru tazu mo ne o zo nakunaru
English Translation: Drenched with brine and tears,
I thought that only I
was one who weeps so,
but the crane there far away
is crying out aloud as well.
Meaning: I had thought that only I was drenched with brine and tears, yet the crane far off is crying out as well, it seems.
Commentary: Book Nineteen Miscellaneous Love Poems 1247

Headnote: "For the Ninna screen, at a place where cranes cry where fisherfolk are dripping with brine"
The poet says he had thought himself alone in being drenched with tears, yet a crane far off seems to be crying aloud too. The headnote shows it was written for a scene on the Ninna screen where cranes cry where fisherfolk are wet with brine. Taking the part of the fisherfolk wet with brine, it says that one who thought he alone was weeping finds the crane crying too, laying the grief of a weeping person over the crane's cry. With the preceding poem, 1246, it shares the word "shiotaruru" and the device of finding another as drenched as oneself.
The author, Ōnakatomi no Yorimoto, served as chief priest of the Ise Shrine. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.
The second line of the main text reads "mi wa ware to nomi," which does not match "mi wa ware nomi to" in the reading line. Here the main text is followed.

First line, "shiotaruru," means "drenched and dripping with brine," layered with being wet with tears. It shares this word with the fourth line of the preceding poem, 1246, "mata shiotaruru."
Second line, "mi wa ware to nomi," means "that only I am such a one," with "nomi" limiting.
Third line, "omoedomo," means "though I thought," with "domo" a concessive particle.
Fourth line, "yoso naru tazu mo," means "the crane far off too," with "tazu" the poetic word for crane.
Final line, "ne o zo nakunaru," is a pivot word: "naku" means the crane "cries" and a person "weeps." The binding particle "zo" is resolved by "naru," the attributive form of the auxiliary of hearsay and inference "nari," to mean "seems to be crying."
Author: Ōnakatomi no Yorimoto
Source: Shui Wakashu
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