Hito shirenu kokoro ni kakete shinobu o ba wasuru to ya omou tamakura no sode - Izumi Shikibu Nikki(English Translation & Meaning)

人しれぬ心にかけてしのふをは
わするとや思ふ手枕のそて

Roma-ji: Hito shirenu kokoro ni kakete shinobu o ba wasuru to ya omou tamakura no sode
English Translation: In my secret heart,
unknown to all, I hold it dear—
do you think that I
could ever forget it now,
that sleeve which pillowed me?
Meaning: I hold it dear in my heart, unknown to anyone; do you think I have forgotten that sleeve which pillowed me?
Commentary: 27 Frosty Mornings and the Page Boy

On the night of their exchange about the arm-pillow sleeve, the moon also shone very bright and clear, and Izumi Shikibu and the prince each gazed at it until dawn in their separate places. The next morning the prince was having someone ask whether his usual page boy had come, meaning to send a letter. Meanwhile Izumi Shikibu, perhaps moved by the brilliant whiteness of the frost, sent a poem first. The prince was vexed at having been forestalled.
The woman is Izumi Shikibu, daughter of Ōe no Masamune and, as the wife of Tachibana no Michisada, Governor of Izumi, mother of Koshikibu no Naishi. The Prince of the Dazaifu is Prince Atsumichi, fourth son of Emperor Reizei, so called because he served as Governor-General of the Dazaifu. The page boy was the youth who carried the prince's letters to her.
With "Kotowari ya ima wa korosaji kono warawa shinobi no tsuma no iu koto ni yori," the prince added, "But tell me, have you forgotten the arm-pillow sleeve?" Izumi Shikibu answered with this poem.
The prince replied with "Mono mo iwade yaminamashikaba kakete dani omoiidemashi ya tamakura no sode," adding, "So I did think as much." After that, for two or three days, no word came from him.

The opening lines mean "holding it in a heart unknown to others," the verb meaning to set one's thoughts on something. The third line means "that I cherish it."
The lower verses ask "do you think I have forgotten the arm-pillow sleeve?" with an interrogative particle, the sleeve placed last by inversion. To his question she answers that though she does not speak of it, she has cherished it in her heart all along; turning from the morning's jesting about the frost, she conveys how dearly she holds the memory the two had entrusted to the arm-pillow sleeve.
Author: Izumi Shikibu
Source: Izumi Shikibu Nikki
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