Kusaki made aki no aware o shinobeba ya no ni mo yama ni mo tsuyu koboruran - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

草木まで秋のあはれを忍べばや
野にも山にも露こぼるらん

Roma-ji: Kusaki made aki no aware o shinobeba ya no ni mo yama ni mo tsuyu koboruran
English Translation: Is it because
even trees and grasses feel
the sorrow of autumn
that over fields and mountains
the dewdrops spill like tears?
Meaning: Is it because even the trees and grasses feel the sorrow of autumn deeply that dew spills over the fields and mountains like tears?
Commentary: Book Four Autumn Poems I 263

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poet wonders whether it is because not only people but even trees and grasses feel the pathos of autumn deeply that dew spills like tears everywhere over fields and mountains. Seeing the dew on plants as their tears, he shows within a vast landscape that the sorrow of autumn fills not only human hearts but all things in heaven and earth.
The author, "Hōin Jien," was the son of Regent Fujiwara no Tadamichi. He served four times as Tendai Abbot and later rose to Archbishop. He wrote the historical work Gukanshō, and a poem of his is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
The last line of this text reads "tsuyu koharuran," which does not agree with "tsuyu koboruramu" in the reading line. Since "koharu" makes no sense, it is taken to be a copying error, and here the reading line's "koboru," spill, is followed.

First line, "kusaki made": "made" means "even," not only people but trees and grasses too.
Second line, "aki no aware o": "aware" is deep feeling or sorrow.
Third line, "shinobeba ya": "shinobu" means to feel deeply and long for, and the "ya" of "ba ya" is interrogative, linking with "ran" in the last line: "is it because they feel it?"
Fourth line, "no ni mo yama ni mo": "on the fields and on the mountains," everywhere, showing how widely the dew lies.
Fifth line, "tsuyu koboruran": "ran," the attributive of present conjecture, closes with "ya," seeing the dew as the tears of plants. "Tsuyu wa koborure" in 266 of this book likewise depicts dew spilling.
Author: Jien
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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