Au koto o shinobazariseba michishiba no tsuyu yori saki ni okite komashi ya

逢ふことを忍ばざりせば道芝の
露より先におきて来ましや

Roma-ji: Au koto o shinobazariseba michishiba no tsuyu yori saki ni okite komashi ya
English Translation: If we had not had
to hide away our meeting,
would I then have risen
sooner than the dew that falls
on the grass along the road?
Meaning: Had we not had to keep our meeting hidden, would I have risen and come home even before the dew had settled on the wayside grass?
Commentary: Love Poems 585

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "The morning after"
Because this is a love hidden from others' eyes, the poet had to rise and come home before dawn, before the dew had even settled; had there been no need for secrecy, he would never have left so early. The counterfactual expresses the pain of a hidden love. Oki joins the settling of dew with the lover's rising.
On the same topic as the preceding poem, which resented the dawning sky, this one laments a hidden love that must rise and leave before the dawn even comes.

First line, “au koto o”: meeting the beloved.
Second line, “shinobazariseba”: seba is a counterfactual condition, had I not had to hide our meeting; it answers mashi at the end.
Third line, “michishiba no”: michishiba is the grass along the road, the scene of the way home.
Fourth line, “tsuyu yori saki ni”: before the dew settles, the early hour before full light.
Fifth line, “okite komashi ya”: oki is a pivot word joining the settling of dew with rising from bed. Mashi is counterfactual and ya rhetorical: would I have risen and come home? Surely not.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
Prev Poem: Kesa yori zo hito no kokoro wa tsurakarade akehanareyuku sora o uramuru
Next Poem: Saranu dani kaeriyararenu shinonome ni soete katarau hototogisu kana