Omoiyaru Kogoi no mori no shizuku ni wa yoso naru hito no sode mo nurekeri - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

思ひやるこごひの森の雫には
よそなる人の袖も濡れけり

Roma-ji: Omoiyaru Kogoi no mori no shizuku ni wa yoso naru hito no sode mo nurekeri
English Translation: When my thoughts go out
to the Forest of Child-Longing,
with the drops that fall
even the sleeves of a stranger
like myself are drenched as well.
Meaning: When I think of the drops falling in the Forest of Kogoi, the forest of longing for a child, even my sleeves, though I am a stranger, are wet with tears.
Commentary: Book Twenty Lament Poems 1303

Headnote: "Sent to visit Shitagō when his child had died"
The poet says that imagining the drops in the Forest of Kogoi, even an outsider's sleeves are wet. The headnote shows it was sent as a message of sympathy when Minamoto no Shitagō lost a child. Entrusting a parent's grief for a child to the name of the poetic Forest of Kogoi, "child-longing," and seeing the drops falling in the forest as Shitagō's tears, he stands beside his friend, a fellow of the Five Men of the Pear Chamber, saying that even he, another, sheds tears.
The author, Kiyohara no Motosuke, was the father of Sei Shōnagon and took part in compiling the Gosenshū as one of the Five Men of the Pear Chamber. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "omoiyaru," means "as my thoughts go out" from afar.
Second line, "Kogoi no mori no," is a pivot word: "Kogoi" is the poetic "Forest of Kogoi" and "longing" for a child. It sings of the same poetic place as the fourth line of 1282 in this book, "mashite Kogoi no," and likewise consoles a parent who has lost a child.
Third line, "shizuku ni wa," means "by the drops," laying a parent's tears for a child over the drops falling from the forest trees.
Fourth line, "yoso naru hito no," means "of a stranger," the poet himself.
Final line, "sode mo nurekeri," means "even the sleeves are wet," with "keri" a sigh of realization.
Author: Kiyohara no Motosuke
Source: Shui Wakashu
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