Kotozukete kesa no wakare o yasurawan shigure o sae ya sode ni kaku beki

ことづけて今朝の別れをやすらはん
時雨をさへや袖にかくべき

Roma-ji: Kotozukete kesa no wakare o yasurawan shigure o sae ya sode ni kaku beki
English Translation: Taking it as cause,
from this morning's parting let
me linger awhile:
must I let the winter rain
too fall upon my sleeves?
Meaning: Using the rain as my excuse, let me put off this morning's parting. Must I let the winter rain fall on my sleeves as well as my tears?
Commentary: Love Poems 589

Headnote: "Early winter rain on the morning of leaving"
The topic is early winter rain on the morning one leaves the beloved. Using the rain as an excuse, the poet resolves to delay parting a little, asking whether he must go home with his sleeves wet not only with the tears of parting but with the rain as well. The pain of parting is spoken through the pretext of the rain.
Where the preceding poem lingered hidden in the mist, this one lingers on the pretext of rain, and the two poems place the same yasurawan in the first and third lines respectively.

First line, “kotozukete”: kotozuku is to use as a pretext, here the rain.
Second line, “kesa no wakare o”: this morning's parting as he leaves the beloved, answering the topic.
Third line, “yasurawan”: let me linger; the poem breaks after the third line, using the same word as the first line of the preceding poem.
Fourth line, “shigure o sae ya”: sae adds one thing to another, the rain on top of the tears; ya is rhetorical and binds with beki at the end. This answers the rain of the topic.
Fifth line, “sode ni kaku beki”: must I let it fall on my sleeves? Surely not; closing in the attributive form answering ya.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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