Shiotaruru Ise o no ama ya ware naran saraba mirume o karu yoshi mogana - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

潮垂るる伊勢をの海人や我ならん
さらばみるめを刈るよしもがな

Roma-ji: Shiotaruru Ise o no ama ya ware naran saraba mirume o karu yoshi mogana
English Translation: Dripping with the brine,
the fisher of the sea of Ise,
could he then be me?
If so, how I wish I had the means
to gather the seaweed miru
Meaning: Am I, then, the fisherman of Ise, dripping with brine? If so, I wish I had some way to gather the seaweed called miru, some chance to see her.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 719

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
Am I the fisherman of Ise dripping with brine, he asks; if so, I wish I had the means to gather miru seaweed. Likening himself, soaked with tears, to a fisherman soaked with brine, he wittily wishes that, being a fisherman, he might gather seaweed, that is, find a chance to see his beloved.
The author, "Provisional Major Counselor Sanekuni," was the son of Palace Minister Fujiwara no Kiminori. He rose to Provisional Major Counselor and was also known as a master of the flute.
Poem 755 of this book opens with the same first line, "shiotaruru," and likewise sings of tear-soaked sleeves through the fisherfolk. It also echoes the "ama" of 713, and "yoshi saraba" in the first line of the next poem, 720, uses the same word as "saraba" in the fourth line of this poem.

First line, "shiotaruru": "dripping with brine," a figure for being wet with tears. Poem 755 of this book opens with the same line.
Second line, "Ise o no ama ya": "the fisherman of the sea of Ise," with "ya" an interrogative particle binding with "naran" in the third line.
Third line, "ware naran": "n" is the attributive of the conjectural "mu," concluding the "ya" of the second line, "could it be me?" The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "saraba mirume o": "saraba" means "if so." "Mirume" pivots between the seaweed miru and "mirume," a chance to see one's beloved.
Fifth line, "karu yoshi mogana": "yoshi" is a means and "mogana" a final particle of wish, "would that I had the means to gather it."
Author: Fujiwara no Sanekuni
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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