Ware yue no namida to kore o yoso ni miba aware narubeki sode no ue kana - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

我ゆゑの涙とこれをよそに見ば
あはれなるべき袖の上かな

Roma-ji: Ware yue no namida to kore o yoso ni miba aware narubeki sode no ue kana
English Translation: "These tears flow for me";
if she saw this as such,
though from far away,
how moving it would surely be,
the sight upon my sleeves
Meaning: If she could look on these, even from afar, as tears shed for her own sake, how moving a sight my sleeves would surely be.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 757

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
If she looked on this from afar as tears shed for her, he says, how moving the sight upon my sleeves would be. If the cold one would only look at his tear-soaked sleeve knowing the tears were shed for her, she would surely be moved, and the poem laments a love that goes unregarded.
The author, "Fujiwara no Takanobu Ason," was the son of the monk Jakuchō. His mother was Bifukumon'in no Kaga, making him the elder half-brother of Fujiwara no Teika. He was known as a master of the realistic portraits called nise-e.
Poem 721 of this book wishes to show the beloved the color of its tears, sharing with this poem the wish that the beloved might see one's tears.

First line, "ware yue no": "ware," "I," is spoken from the beloved's position, "for my own sake."
Second line, "namida to kore o": "kore," "this," points to his own sleeve wet with tears.
Third line, "yoso ni miba": "yoso" is a place apart, and "ba" after the irrealis is suppositional, "if she saw it from afar."
Fourth line, "aware narubeki": "beki" is the attributive of the conjectural "beshi," "which would surely move her."
Fifth line, "sode no ue kana": "kana" is exclamatory, "this sight upon my sleeve!"
Author: Fujiwara no Takanobu
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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