Wakete iru sode ni aware o kake yo tote tsuyukeki niwa ni mushi sae zo naku

分けて入る袖にあはれをかけよとて
露けき庭に虫さへぞ鳴く

Roma-ji: Wakete iru sode ni aware o kake yo tote tsuyukeki niwa ni mushi sae zo naku
English Translation: On my sleeves that part
grasses as I make my way,
pour your sorrow, so
crying in the dewy garden,
even insects seem to say.
Meaning: As if to say, pour your sorrow on the sleeves of one who parts the grass to come in, even the insects cry in the dew-drenched garden.
Commentary: Autumn Poems 444

Headnote: "Hearing that someone I had long been close to was living at Fushimi, I went to visit, and the grass in the garden had grown so thick the path could not be seen, and insects were crying"
The headnote tells us that the poet, hearing that someone he had long been close to was living at Fushimi, went to visit and found the garden so overgrown that the path could not be seen and insects crying; this is the poem he composed then. As if bidding him pour tears of aware on the sleeves with which he parts the thick grass, even the insects cry in the dew-soaked garden. In the loneliness of the overgrown garden he senses the life of his old friend.
It shares its opening line with 271, where the garden that runs into the moor lets the poet claim the bush clover's full bloom for himself; here, by contrast, the aware of a neglected garden is sung. From here poems on insects follow.

First line, “wakete iru”: pushing through the thick grass to enter, taking up the headnote's garden so overgrown the path was hidden.
Second line, “sode ni aware o”: deep feeling upon the sleeves, hinting at tears.
Third line, “kake yo tote”: kake yo is an imperative, saying pour it, likening the insects' crying to words calling out to the poet.
Fourth line, “tsuyukeki niwa ni”: tsuyukeshi means wet with dew, in the dew-soaked garden.
Fifth line, “mushi sae zo naku”: sae adds, not only the thick grass and dew but even the insects; zo is answered by the attributive naku.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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