Saki ni tatsu namida to naraba hito shirezu koiji ni madou michishirube seyo - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

先に立つ涙とならば人知れず
恋路に惑ふ道しるべせよ

Roma-ji: Saki ni tatsu namida to naraba hito shirezu koiji ni madou michishirube seyo
English Translation: If you are the tears
that always go out before,
then in secret be
a guide upon my way, for I
am lost upon the road of love
Meaning: Tears, if you are the ones that always go out ahead of me, then be my guide, for I am lost, unknown to anyone, upon the road of love.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 678

Headnote: "Composed on the theme of love when he composed a hundred-poem sequence"
Composed on the theme of love for a hundred-poem sequence. If you are tears that go before, he says, be the guide for me, lost in secret on the road of love. Likening tears, which spill out first at every turn, to one who goes ahead to lead the way, he calls on them to guide him, lost on the road of love.
The author, "the Minister of the Right," is Fujiwara no Sanesada. The son of Minister of the Right Fujiwara no Kinyoshi, he was Minister of the Right when this anthology was compiled, later rose to Minister of the Left, and was called the Later Tokudaiji Minister of the Left. He has a poem in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
Its last line, "michishirube seyo," is the same as the last line of 642 of this book, while 644 called tears the "guide" of love. Its fourth line, "koiji ni madou," is the same as the fourth line of 674.

First line, "saki ni tatsu": "going out before all else," of tears that spill out first, echoing a guide who walks ahead.
Second line, "namida to naraba": "if you are tears." Like "namida zo koi no" in the fourth line of 644, it makes tears the guide of love.
Third line, "hito shirezu": "unknown to others."
Fourth line, "koiji ni madou": "lost on the road of love." It is the same as the fourth line of 674.
Fifth line, "michishirube seyo": "seyo" is the imperative of "su," "be my guide." It is the same as the last line of 642.
Author: Fujiwara no Sanesada
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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