Tsutsumedomo makura wa koi o shirinuran namida kakaranu yo wa shi nakereba - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

包めども枕は恋を知りぬらん
涙かからぬ夜はしなければ

Roma-ji: Tsutsumedomo makura wa koi o shirinuran namida kakaranu yo wa shi nakereba
English Translation: Though I hide it well,
my pillow, surely, knows by now
the love I conceal:
for there is no night at all
that tears do not fall on it
Meaning: Though I hide it, my pillow must surely know of my love by now, for there is not a single night when my tears do not fall on it.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 812

Headnote: "Composed on the topic 'Love expressed through a pillow'"
Composed on the topic "love expressed through a pillow." Though I hide it, he says, my pillow must know of my love, for there is not a night that tears do not fall on it. Even if he can hide his love from everyone, there is no hiding it from the pillow that catches his tears each night, and through this conceit he conveys a secret love spent weeping night after night. The idea of the pillow knowing one's love appears also in the Kokinshū poem by Taira no Sadafun, "A love that none but my pillow knows, my tears could not hold back and have let slip."
The author, "the Koga Palace Minister," is Minamoto no Masamichi. The son of Provisional Major Counselor Minamoto no Akimichi, he was adopted by Minister of the Right Minamoto no Masasada and rose to Palace Minister. He was called the Koga Palace Minister because he lived at Koga, and he was the father of Minamoto no Michichika.

First line, "tsutsumedomo": "tsutsumu" is to hide, and "domo" an adversative particle, "though I hide it from others."
Second line, "makura wa koi o": "my pillow," it alone of all, giving the "pillow" of the topic.
Third line, "shirinuran": "nu" is perfective and "ran" the present conjectural, "must have come to know." The poem pauses here and stands in inverted order with the lower half.
Fourth line, "namida kakaranu": "on which no tears fall."
Fifth line, "yo wa shi nakereba": "shi" is an emphatic particle and "ba" gives a fixed condition, "since there is no such night," the reason for the third line.
Author: Minamoto no Masamichi
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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