Namida o ya shinoban hito wa nagasu beki aware ni miyuru mizuguki no ato

涙をや偲ばん人は流すべき
あはれに見ゆる水茎の跡

Roma-ji: Namida o ya shinoban hito wa nagasu beki aware ni miyuru mizuguki no ato
English Translation: Tears, will they not flow
from one who remembers him,
surely they must fall,
seeing how moving they look,
these traces of the brush.
Meaning: Surely one who remembers him will shed tears, at the sight of these traces of the brush that look so moving.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 804

Headnote: "Finding among my things a letter from someone who had died years before, I sent it to show to his daughter"
Finding among his things a letter from someone who had died years before, the poet sent it to the man's daughter with this poem. One who remembers him will surely shed tears, so moving are these traces of the brush, he says, feeling for the daughter's grief.

First line, “namida o ya”: the question particle ya is answered by beki in the third line.
Second line, “shinoban hito wa”: one who will remember him, the daughter.
Third line, “nagasu beki”: will surely shed; the poem breaks here.
Fourth line, “aware ni miyuru”: looking so moving.
Fifth line, “mizuguki no ato”: traces of the brush, ending on a noun; mizu, water, is related to nagasu, to flow, in the third line.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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