classic waka stream

時しもあれ水の水菰を刈りあげて
干さで朽たしつ五月雨の空
Roma-ji

Toki shimo are mizu no mikomo o kariagete hosade kutashitsu samidare no sora

English Translation
Of all times for this!
Just when I'd cut and gathered
the wild rice of the water,
before it dried, it rotted:
this sky of summer rain
Meaning
Of all times for it! Just when I had cut the wild rice by the water, I let it rot before it could dry, under this sky of summer rain.
Commentary
Book Three Summer Poems 184

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed when presenting a hundred-poem sequence to Retired Emperor Sutoku"
Like the preceding poem, this belongs to the hundred-poem sequence presented to Retired Emperor Sutoku. Just as the wild rice by the water had been cut, the summer rains began, and it rotted before it could be dried. The vexation of freshly cut grasses decaying because the long rains will not let them dry is stressed by "toki shimo are," of all times.
The author, "Fujiwara no Kiyosuke Ason," was the son of Fujiwara no Akisuke, Master of the Left Capital Office. Heir to the poetic learning of the Rokujō Fujiwara house, he was one of the foremost scholars of poetry of his day and wrote treatises such as the Fukuro-zōshi. A poem of his is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.

First line, "toki shimo are": "of all times," stressing ill timing. Poem 175 of this book opens in the same form with "ori shimo are."
Second line, "mizu no mikomo o": "mikomo" is wild rice growing at the water's edge, with "mizu," water, repeated. "Mizu no mizukasa" in 182 of this book likewise repeats "mizu no."
Third line, "kariagete": "having finished cutting it."
Fourth line, "hosade kutashitsu": "de" is the negative conjunctive, "kutasu" means to let rot, and "tsu" is perfective: "I let it rot without drying it." The poem pauses here. Like "kuchi ya shinuran" in 181 of this book, it tells of grasses rotting in the long rains.
Fifth line, "samidare no sora": ends on a noun, naming the cause last. It is the same final line as 179 of this book.
Author
Fujiwara no Kiyosuke
Source
Senzai Wakashu
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