Satsuki kite nagame masareba ayamegusa omoi taenishi ne koso nakarure - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

五月来てながめまさればあやめ草
思ひ絶えにしねこそなかるれ

Roma-ji: Satsuki kite nagame masareba ayamegusa omoi taenishi ne koso nakarure
English Translation: Now that May has come,
with long rains my brooding grows;
like the iris roots,
though I thought my grief cut off,
I weep, swept along aloud.
Meaning: May has come, and with the long rains my brooding deepens, so that, like iris roots swept away, I who thought my grief was cut off cannot help but cry aloud.
Commentary: Book Twenty Lament Poems 1280

Headnote: "Sent to Kanemichi, Minister of the Imperial Household, on the fifth day of the fifth month of the year after the Tenryaku Emperor passed away"
The poet says that with May come and the long rains, her brooding deepens, and though she thought she had cut off her grief, she cannot help but weep aloud. The headnote shows it was sent to Fujiwara no Kanemichi, Minister of the Imperial Household, on the fifth day of the fifth month, the Iris Festival, in the year after Emperor Murakami's death. Working in the irises used at the festival, and layering "nagame," long rains and brooding, "ne," root and cry, and "nakaru," to be swept away and to weep, she conveys that her grief for the emperor has not yet ended. Emperor Murakami died in Kōhō 4 (967).
The author, Nyokurōdo Hyōgo, was a junior palace attendant known as Hyōgo, of whom little is known.

First line, "satsuki kite," means "May has come," the fifth day of the fifth month of the headnote.
Second line, "nagame masareba," is a pivot word: "nagame" means "long rains" and "brooding." It layers the rains growing heavier with brooding growing deeper.
Third line, "ayamegusa," is the iris, hung under eaves or made into scented balls at the Iris Festival, leading to "ne" in the fourth line. It shares the iris with the second line of the next poem, 1281, "ayame mo shiranu."
Fourth line, "omoi taenishi," means "the longing I had cut off," with "nishi" perfective and past auxiliaries.
Final line, "ne koso nakarure," is a pivot word: "ne" means the iris "root" and a "cry," and "nakarure" means "to be swept away" and "to weep." The binding particle "koso" is resolved in the perfective form.
Author: Nyokurōdo Hyōgo
Source: Shui Wakashu
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