Shiotaruru sode no hiruma wa ari ya tomo Awade no ura no ama ni towabaya - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

潮垂るる袖の干る間はありやとも
あはでの浦の海人に問はばや

Roma-ji: Shiotaruru sode no hiruma wa ari ya tomo Awade no ura no ama ni towabaya
English Translation: Dripping with the brine,
is there any time at all
for sleeves to grow dry?
At Awade, Bay of Not-Meeting,
I would ask the fishers there
Meaning: I would like to ask the fisherfolk of Awade, the Bay of Never Meeting, whether sleeves dripping with brine ever have a moment to dry.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 755

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
Is there ever a time for sleeves dripping with brine to dry, he asks; I would ask the fisherfolk of Awade Bay. Supposing that the fisherfolk of a bay whose name means "not meeting" must share his plight of weeping without meeting, he wishes to ask them whether their sleeves ever dry, expressing the endless tears of a love that cannot meet.
The author, "Hōin Jōken," was the son of Fujiwara no Michinori, who took the tonsure under the name Shinzei. He served as a close retainer of Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa and held the clerical rank of hōin.
The second line of the preceding poem, 754, "shio no michihiru," and this poem's second line, "sode no hiruma wa," share the word "hiru," so that poems giving sleeves to the tide stand together. The first line, "shiotaruru," is the same as in 719 of this book. The closing "towabaya" is the same word as "hito ni towabaya" in the second line of 704 at the head of the book, sharing the device of asking others about wet sleeves.

First line, "shiotaruru": "dripping with brine," a figure for being wet with tears. Poem 719 of this book opens with the same line.
Second line, "sode no hiruma wa": "hiru" is to dry, echoing the ebbing of the tide. It uses the same word as "shio no michihiru" in the second line of the preceding poem.
Third line, "ari ya tomo": "ya" is interrogative, "whether there is."
Fourth line, "Awade no ura no": "Awade" pivots between Awade Bay, a famed place in Michinoku, and "awade," "without meeting."
Fifth line, "ama ni towabaya": "baya" is a final particle of one's own wish, "I would ask the fisherfolk." It takes the same form as "hito ni towabaya" in the second line of 704 at the head of the book.
Author: Jōken
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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