Sasa no ha ni arare furu yo no samukeki ni hitori wa nenan mono to ya wa omou - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

笹の葉に霰降る夜の寒けきに
ひとりは寝なん物とやは思ふ

Roma-ji: Sasa no ha ni arare furu yo no samukeki ni hitori wa nenan mono to ya wa omou
English Translation: On a night so cold
as hail falls on the bamboo grass,
rattling on the leaves,
do you think that I could ever
sleep the night through all alone?
Meaning: On such a cold night, with hail falling on the bamboo leaves, do you really think I could sleep alone?
Commentary: Book Fifteen Love Poems V 957

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
On a night so cold, with hail falling on the bamboo leaves, she asks, do you think I could sleep alone? On a cold winter night when the sound of hail striking the bamboo leaves rings out, she protests that she cannot possibly sleep alone, urging her lover to come. Through the concrete image of hail on a winter night, it vividly conveys the cold and loneliness of sleeping alone.
The author, "Uma no Naishi," was the daughter of Minamoto no Tokiakira. She served Empress Kōshi, consort of Emperor En'yū, and Empress Teishi, consort of Emperor Ichijō, among others, and had relationships with many young nobles, Fujiwara no Asamitsu among them. She is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals of the Middle Ages.
Following "sasame karu" in the preceding poem, 956, this one opens with "sasa no ha ni," so that poems beginning with the same sound stand side by side. And where 952 of this book, "hitori nezame no makura ni zo shiru," sings of sleeping alone on an autumn night, this poem sings of sleeping alone on a winter night.

First line, "sasa no ha ni": "upon the bamboo leaves." It answers "sasame karu" in the first line of the preceding poem, 956, through the sound "sasa."
Second line, "arare furu yo no": "of a winter night when hail falls," suggesting the sound of hail striking the bamboo leaves.
Third line, "samukeki ni": "samukeki" is the attributive of the adjective "samukeshi," "though it is so cold."
Fourth line, "hitori wa nenan": "na" is the irrealis of the perfective "nu," here intensifying, and "n" the attributive of the conjectural "mu," "that I could sleep alone." It shares the theme of sleeping alone with "hitori nezame no" in the fourth line of 952 of this book.
Fifth line, "mono to ya wa omou": "ya wa" is a rhetorical binding particle that closes with the attributive "omou," "do you think so? I could never sleep alone."
Author: Uma no Naishi
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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