Waga ue wa chidori mo tsugeji ōtori no hane ni mo shimo wa sa ya wa okikeru - Izumi Shikibu Nikki(English Translation & Meaning)

我うへは千鳥もつけしおほ鳥の
羽にも霜はさやはをきける

Roma-ji: Waga ue wa chidori mo tsugeji ōtori no hane ni mo shimo wa sa ya wa okikeru
English Translation: Of how I fare,
not even the plovers will tell;
on the great bird's wings,
could the frost ever have settled
white in quite this way?
Meaning: Not even the plovers would tell how I fare; and could the frost ever have settled so on the wings of the great bird?
Commentary: 31 Frost on the Great Bird's Wings

After their exchange about the god of Kazuragi, the prince visited more often than before, and Izumi Shikibu felt her loneliness consoled beyond measure. Meanwhile, ill-intentioned men kept sending her letters and even loitered about her house themselves, so that some foolish trouble might arise. She thought she ought to go to the prince's residence soon, yet she still felt hesitant and could not make up her mind once and for all.
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.
On a morning when the frost lay very white, Izumi Shikibu sent this poem to the prince.
The prince replied with "Tsuki mo mite neniki to iishi hito no ue ni okishimo seji o ōtori no goto," and came to her that very evening.

The opening lines mean "not even the plovers would tell of my state," with an auxiliary of negative conjecture, treating the plovers that cry by winter waters as birds that might carry news of her.
The remaining lines ask "could the frost have settled so even on the great bird's wings?" with a rhetorical particle and a past-tense auxiliary. Taking in the scene of the frosty white morning and layering bird upon bird, plover and great bird, she seems to hint through the image of frost at her lonely state and at unfounded rumors about the men who court her, appealing to the prince to understand her feelings.
Author: Izumi Shikibu
Source: Izumi Shikibu Nikki
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