Asatsuyu ni nurenishi sode o hosu hodo ni yagate yūdatsu waga tamoto kana

朝露に濡れにし袖を干すほどに
やがて夕立つ我が袂かな

Roma-ji: Asatsuyu ni nurenishi sode o hosu hodo ni yagate yūdatsu waga tamoto kana
English Translation: While I dry my sleeves,
soaked with the dew of morning
as we said goodbye,
soon a summer evening shower
drenches once more these sleeves of mine.
Meaning: While I am drying my sleeves, soaked by the morning dew, soon an evening shower comes to drench them again.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 1266

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "One hundred and ten love poems"
Likening the tears of the morning parting to morning dew, the poet says that before he can dry his sleeves an evening shower comes, his tears as he waits for evening.
The tears of the morning parting and those of waiting for the evening meeting are seen as morning dew and an evening shower, portraying the pain of a love in which tears never dry all day.

First line, “asatsuyu ni”: by the morning dew, figuring tears of the dawn parting.
Second line, “nurenishi sode o”: the sleeves that got wet.
Third line, “hosu hodo ni”: while drying them.
Fourth line, “yagate yūdatsu”: yūdatsu is for an evening shower to fall, figuring tears of waiting.
Fifth line, “waga tamoto kana”: kana is exclamatory.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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