Koyoi nete tsumite kaeramu sumiregusa ono no shibafu wa tsuyu shigeku tomo - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

今宵寝て摘みて帰らむすみれ草
小野の芝生は露しげくとも

Roma-ji: Koyoi nete tsumite kaeramu sumiregusa ono no shibafu wa tsuyu shigeku tomo
English Translation: Tonight I'll sleep here,
then pick and take home with me
the wild violets,
though the grass of the meadow
be drenched with heavy dew
Meaning: Tonight I will sleep here and gather violets to take home, even though the grass of the meadow is heavy with dew.
Commentary: Book Two Spring Poems II 108

Headnote: "Composed on violets for the same hundred-poem sequence"
Like the preceding poem, this was composed for the Horikawa Hundred-Poem Sequence, on "violets." The poet resolves to sleep in the meadow tonight and gather violets to take home, however heavy the dew on the grass. His reluctance to leave the field for love of the violets is shown in his willingness to be soaked with dew.
The author, "Middle Counselor Kuninobu," is Minamoto no Kuninobu, son of Minister of the Right Minamoto no Akifusa, who rose to Provisional Middle Counselor. Active in Emperor Horikawa's poetry circle, he was one of the poets of the Horikawa Hundred-Poem Sequence.
It draws on Yamabe no Akahito's poem in the Man'yōshū, "I who came to the spring fields to gather violets, so loved the fields that I slept there a night," inheriting the idea of spending a night in the fields while gathering violets.
This poem and the next two, through 110, form a sequence on violets.

First line, "koyoi nete": "sleeping here tonight," drawing on "slept there a night" in Akahito's poem.
Second line, "tsumite kaeramu": "mu" expresses will: "I will gather them and go home." Poem 110 of this book ends with the same words, sharing the wish to take violets home.
Third line, "sumiregusa": the violet; the poem pauses here and is inverted with the lines that follow.
Fourth line, "ono no shibafu wa": "ono" is a meadow, with "o" a prefix, and "shibafu" a place where grass grows.
Fifth line, "tsuyu shigeku tomo": "tomo" is a concessive hypothetical, "even if the dew is heavy," showing a heart that does not mind being drenched.
Author: Minamoto no Kunizane
Source: Senzai Wakashu
Prev Poem: Omou koto chie ni ya shigeki yobukodori Shinoda no mori no kata ni naku nari
Next Poem: Kigisu naku Iwata no ono no tsubosumire shime sasu bakari narinikeru kana