Waga sode no shio no michihiru ura naraba namida no yoranu ori mo aramashi - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

我が袖の潮の満ち干る浦ならば
涙の寄らぬ折もあらまし

Roma-ji: Waga sode no shio no michihiru ura naraba namida no yoranu ori mo aramashi
English Translation: If this sleeve of mine
were a bay where tides come in
and go out again,
there would surely be a time
when no tears came washing in
Meaning: If my sleeve were a bay where the tide flows in and ebbs away, there would at least be times when no tears came washing in.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 754

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
If my sleeve were a bay where tides flow and ebb, he says, there would be times when no tears washed in. A bay with tides would have its hours of ebb, but his sleeve has tears washing in without cease and never a moment to dry, and he expresses this endless weeping by likening the sleeve to a bay and the tears to the tide.
The author, "Former Provisional Master of the Right Capital Office Yorimasa," is Minamoto no Yorimasa. The son of Minamoto no Nakamasa, Head of the Hyōgo Office, he was a warrior and poet who served as Provisional Master of the Right Capital Office. He later raised troops against the Taira in support of Prince Mochihito and died in defeat at Uji.
The next poem, 755, asks the fisherfolk about "a time to dry" for sleeves wet with tears, and 760 of this book opens with "waga sode wa" to sing of a sleeve that never dries even at low tide. Poems likening sleeves to the ebb and flow of the tide are set one after another.

First line, "waga sode no": "my sleeve." Like "waga sode wa" in the first line of 760 of this book, it gives one's sleeve to the sea.
Second line, "shio no michihiru": "where the tide flows and ebbs." It shares the word "hiru," "to dry, to ebb," with "sode no hiruma wa" in the second line of the next poem.
Third line, "ura naraba": "if it were a bay," a counterfactual condition answering "mashi" in the last line.
Fourth line, "namida no yoranu": "when no tears wash in," likening tears to the incoming tide.
Fifth line, "ori mo aramashi": "mashi" is the counterfactual auxiliary, "there would be times," showing that in truth the tears wash in without cease.
Author: Minamoto no Yorimasa
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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