classic waka stream

秋風になびく草葉の露よりも
消えにし人を何にたとへん
Roma-ji

Akikaze ni nabiku kusaba no tsuyu yori mo kienishi hito o nani ni tatoen

English Translation
Even more than dew
on the grasses bending low
in the autumn wind,
she who vanished, to what
could I ever liken her?
Meaning
She vanished even more quickly than the dew on grasses bending in the autumn wind. To what could I ever compare her?
Commentary
Book Twenty Lament Poems 1286

Headnote: "On seeing, in the autumn of the year the Empress passed away, the wind bending the dew-laden plants in the garden before him"
The emperor asks to what he could compare one who vanished even more fleetingly than the dew on grasses bending in the autumn wind. The headnote shows he composed it in the autumn of the year the empress died, on seeing the wind bend the dew-laden plants in the garden before him. The empress was Fujiwara no Anshi, who died in Kōhō 1 (964). He conveys deep grief for an empress who left the world so suddenly that not even dew, the very image of transience, will serve as a comparison.
The author, written as "Composed by the Tenryaku Emperor," is Emperor Murakami. A son of Emperor Daigo, his reign was praised as the Tenryaku Rule, and he ordered the compilation of the Gosenshū.

First line, "akikaze ni," means "in the autumn wind," the wind of the headnote.
Second line, "nabiku kusaba no," means "on the bending grass leaves," the plants in the garden of the headnote.
Third line, "tsuyu yori mo," means "even more than the dew," comparing her with dew that fades so quickly.
Fourth line, "kienishi hito o," means "she who vanished," with "nishi" perfective and past auxiliaries, speaking of death through "kie," vanish, an associated word of dew.
Final line, "nani ni tatoen," means "to what shall I liken her," a lament that nothing will serve.
Author
Emperor Murakami
Source
Shui Wakashu
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