Yosobito ni towarenuru kana kimi ni koso misebaya to omou sode no shizuku o - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

よそ人に問はれぬるかな君にこそ
見せばやと思ふ袖の雫を

Roma-ji: Yosobito ni towarenuru kana kimi ni koso misebaya to omou sode no shizuku o
English Translation: It is a stranger
who has asked me after them,
the drops upon my sleeves,
though it is you alone I long
to show them to, my love
Meaning: It was a stranger who asked me about the tears dripping from my sleeves, though you are the only one I wish would see them.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 699

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed as a love poem"
A love poem under the same headnote as the preceding poems. A stranger has asked me, he says, about the drops on my sleeves that I long to show to you alone. He sings of the irony and helplessness of sleeves wet with tears of love that the one he loves does not even notice, while an outsider remarks on them.
The author, "the Hōgen Jikkai," was a monk who held the clerical rank of hōgen. Little is known of his life.
Poem 686 of this book also calls tears "shizuku," "drops."

First line, "yosobito ni": "yosobito" is a stranger with no bond to oneself.
Second line, "towarenuru kana": "re" is passive, "nuru" the attributive of the perfective "nu," and "kana" exclamatory, "I have been asked." The poem pauses here, in inverted order.
Third line, "kimi ni koso": "to you above all," set against "yosobito" in the first line.
Fourth line, "misebaya to omou": a line with an extra syllable. "Baya" is a final particle of one's own wish, "that I long to show."
Fifth line, "sode no shizuku o": "shizuku," "drops," is a figure for tears, and ending on "o," the line turns back to the second line. It is the same word as "shizuku narikeri" in the last line of 686.
Author: Jikkai
Source: Senzai Wakashu
Prev Poem: Tsurenasa ni iwade taenan to omou koso aiminu saki no wakare narikere
Next Poem: Tsurenaku zo yume ni mo miyuru sayogoromo uramin to te wa kaeshi ya wa seshi