Ima wa tada osauru sode mo kuchihatete kokoro no mama ni otsuru namida ka - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

今はただ押さふる袖も朽ち果てて
心のままに落つる涙か

Roma-ji: Ima wa tada osauru sode mo kuchihatete kokoro no mama ni otsuru namida ka
English Translation: Now, at last, even
the sleeves with which I held them back
have rotted away,
and just as my heart would have it,
how my tears come falling down
Meaning: Now even the sleeves with which I held back my tears have rotted away, and my tears fall freely, just as my heart would have them.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Love Poems V 940

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed by His Majesty as a love poem when he called for hundred-poem sequences"
A love poem from the same hundred-poem sequence as the two preceding poems. Now even the sleeves that held them back have rotted away, he says, and my tears fall as my heart wills. He has pressed his tears back with his sleeves to hide them from others, but the sleeves, long soaked, have at last rotted through, and with nothing left to stem them the tears flow freely, expressing a grief of love that can no longer be restrained.
The author, "Fujiwara no Suemichi Ason," was the son of Provisional Major Counselor Fujiwara no Munemichi. He excelled at music on instruments such as the koto and biwa, and was also known as a poet.
Like poem 905 of this book, "ne o nakeba sode wa kuchite mo," it sings of sleeves rotting with tears. Together with "namida kana" in the preceding poem, 939, and "namida ni mo" in 942, it continues a run of poems on tears.

First line, "ima wa tada": "now, at this point, simply."
Second line, "osauru sode mo": "osau" means to press back and hold in, "even the sleeves that held back my tears." It shares the image with "sode wa kuchite mo" in the second line of 905 of this book.
Third line, "kuchihatete": "having rotted away completely." It is the same word as "kuchihatenuran" in the last line of 915 of this book.
Fourth line, "kokoro no mama ni": "just as my heart wills," with nothing to restrain them.
Fifth line, "otsuru namida ka": "ka" is an exclamatory final particle, "oh, these falling tears." It answers "namida kana" in the third line of the preceding poem, 939.
Author: Fujiwara no Suemichi
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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