Nezame suru hito no kokoro o wabishimete shigururu oto wa kanashikarikeri

寝覚めする人の心をわびしめて
時雨るる音は悲しかりけり

Roma-ji: Nezame suru hito no kokoro o wabishimete shigururu oto wa kanashikarikeri
English Translation: For one who lies awake
the heart of such a person
is made desolate:
the sound of the winter rain
how sorrowful it is!
Meaning: Leaving the heart of one who lies awake in the night all the more forlorn, how sad is the sound of the falling winter rain.
Commentary: Winter Poems 492

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poem tells of the sorrow of the winter rain, whose sound makes the heart of one who has woken in the night all the more forlorn. Shigure is the rain of early winter that falls and stops by turns, and hearing it in the hush of the night deepens the loneliness of waking.
Following the preceding poem on the storm blowing all night, this poem too treats a sound heard at night, moving from the sound of the storm to that of the rain. Poem 496 in this book likewise tells of a sound like rain heard from the bed on waking, so the same scene of night waking recurs.

First line, “nezame suru”: to wake in the night.
Second line, “hito no kokoro o”: hito is the person lying awake, including the poet himself.
Third line, “wabishimete”: wabishimu is to make forlorn, the sound of the rain working on the heart.
Fourth line, “shigururu oto wa”: shiguru is a verb, for the winter rain to fall, and its attributive form leads into oto, sound.
Fifth line, “kanashikarikeri”: keri is exclamatory, closing on the poet's renewed sense of how sad the sound of the rain is.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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