Fujigoromo hatsururu ito wa kimi kouru namida no tama no o to ya naruran - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

藤衣はつるる糸は君恋ふる
涙の玉の緒とやなるらん

Roma-ji: Fujigoromo hatsururu ito wa kimi kouru namida no tama no o to ya naruran
English Translation: The wisteria robe,
the threads that fray from it now,
for the one I love
shall they become the cord
to string my beads of tears?
Meaning: The threads fraying from my wisteria mourning robe, will they become the cord that strings the jewels of my tears for you?
Commentary: Book Twenty Lament Poems 1292

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On taking off mourning clothes"
The poet asks whether the threads fraying from the mourning robe will become the cord stringing the jewels of tears shed in longing for the dead. Like the preceding poem, 1291, its headnote marks it as a poem on taking off mourning. Seeing the frayed threads of a robe worn long and grown old as a cord to string the falling jewels of tears, it sings of how many tears were shed in the days of mourning, and how many more will be.
Poems 1291 through 1293 are a group composed on taking off mourning clothes at the end of the period of mourning. All of them sing of the wisteria robe and share the feeling that though the mourning robe is put away, the tears do not end.
A similar poem by Mibu no Tadamine appears among the laments of the Kokinshū, with the lower verse "namida no tama no o to zo narikeru."

First line, "fujigoromo," means "a mourning robe," the same word as the first line of the preceding poem, 1291.
Second line, "hatsururu ito wa," means "the threads that fray," speaking of a robe worn long and grown old.
Third line, "kimi kouru," means "longing for you," the one who has died.
Fourth line, "namida no tama no," means "of the jewels of tears," seeing falling tears as jewels.
Final line, "o to ya naruran," means "will they become the cord," with the binding particle "ya" resolved by the attributive form of the conjectural "ran." "Ito," thread, and "o," cord, are associated words.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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