Take no ha ni tama nuku tsuyu ni aranedomo mada yo o komete okinikeru kana - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

竹の葉に玉貫く露にあらねども
まだ夜をこめておきにけるかな

Roma-ji: Take no ha ni tama nuku tsuyu ni aranedomo mada yo o komete okinikeru kana
English Translation: On bamboo leaves strung,
though I am not the dew
that threads them with jewels,
while it was still deep in night
I rose, as the dew settles
Meaning: Though I am not the dew that strings its jewels on the bamboo leaves, while it was still deep night I rose and left you, as the dew settles.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 846

Headnote: "Sent after returning from a woman's place while it was still deep night"
This is a morning-after poem, sent after he returned from a woman's house while the night was still deep. I am not the dew stringing jewels on bamboo leaves, he says, yet while it was still night I rose. Pivoting the dew's "settling," "oku," with his own "rising," "oku," he conveys his reluctance at having risen and parted while it was still dark, like dew that settles before dawn. It is a poem that entrusts to the image of dew his regret at having to leave early to avoid being seen.
The author, "Fujiwara no Sanekata Ason," was the son of Fujiwara no Sadatoki. Adopted by his uncle Fujiwara no Naritoki, he served as Middle Captain of the Left Palace Guards, but went down to Mutsu as its governor and died there. A poem of his is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.

First line, "take no ha ni": it shows where the dew rests. Dew on bamboo leaves has long been sung as shining like jewels.
Second line, "tama nuku tsuyu ni": "tama nuku" is to thread jewels on a cord, likening the drops of dew strung along the bamboo leaves to jewels.
Third line, "aranedomo": "ne" is the perfective of the negative auxiliary "zu," and "domo" an adversative particle, "though I am not the dew."
Fourth line, "mada yo o komete": "yo o komete" means "while it is still deep night." It shows that he left the woman before dawn.
Fifth line, "okinikeru kana": "oki" pivots between the dew's "settling" and his own "rising." "Ni" is the continuative of the completive "nu," "keru" the attributive of the past "keri," and "kana" exclamatory. Pivoting on "oku," a word associated with dew, it echoes "tsuyu" in the second line.
Author: Fujiwara no Sanekata
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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