Naki hito mo aru ga tsuraki o omou ni mo iro wakarenu wa namida narikeri - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

亡き人もあるがつらきを思ふにも
色分かれぬは涙なりけり

Roma-ji: Naki hito mo aru ga tsuraki o omou ni mo iro wakarenu wa namida narikeri
English Translation: For the one now gone,
and the bitterness of one
who lives, as I think,
the tears that cannot be told
apart by color are these.
Meaning: Thinking of my parent who has died, and of the coldness of one who is still alive, my tears cannot be told apart by their color.
Commentary: Book Twenty Lament Poems 1301

Headnote: "When her lover did not visit her after she had lost her parent"
The poet says that thinking both of the one who has died and of the coldness of one who lives, her tears cannot be told apart by color. The headnote shows it was composed when, after she lost a parent, her lover did not come to visit. Saying that the color of her tears cannot be distinguished, she conveys griefs piled one on another, tears of mourning for her parent and tears of resentment at the man who stays away flowing as one.
The author, Ise, was a daughter of Fujiwara no Tsugukage, Governor of Ise, and served Onshi, empress of Emperor Uda; favored by Emperor Uda, she bore him a prince. She is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets and is known for her poem "Naniwagata" in the Hyakunin Isshu.

First line, "naki hito mo," means "the one who is gone," the parent of the headnote.
Second line, "aru ga tsuraki o," means "the coldness of one who lives," the man who does not come. It sets "aru," living, against "naki," gone, in the first line.
Third line, "omou ni mo," means "as I think of them."
Fourth line, "iro wakarenu wa," means "what cannot be told apart by color," tears of grief and tears of resentment that cannot be distinguished.
Final line, "namida narikeri," means "is my tears, I find," with "keri" a sigh of realization. It shares this line with the final line of 1293 in this book.
Author: Ise
Source: Shui Wakashu
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