Take no ha ni tama nuku tsuyu ni aranedomo mada yo o komete okinikeru kana - Shika Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

竹の葉に玉貫く露にあらねども
まだよをこめておきにけるかな

Roma-ji: Take no ha ni tama nuku tsuyu ni aranedomo mada yo o komete okinikeru kana
English Translation: Though I am not dew
threaded like jewels upon
the leaves of bamboo,
while the night was still deep
I too rose up and was gone
Meaning: I am not the dew strung like jewels on bamboo leaves, yet I too rose while the night was still deep, and left you.
Commentary: Book Eight Love Poems II 237

Invoking dew strung like jewels on bamboo leaves, the poet says that he, though no dew, also rose before dawn and left his lover. Playing on "oku" as both dew settling and a person rising, he expresses regret at parting so early on the morning after.

The first line, "take no ha ni" (on the bamboo leaves), shows where the dew lies. Poem 254 of this book begins with the same line, setting dew on bamboo leaves beside hail falling on them.
The second line, "tama nuku tsuyu ni," likens dew to jewels threaded on a string.
The third line, "aranedomo," uses the concessive "domo": though I am not dew.
The fourth line, "mada yo o komete" (while it was still night), plays on "yo," which also means the joint of a bamboo stem, forming an associated word with the bamboo of the first line.
The final line, "okinikeru kana," is a pivot word joining dew settling and a person rising, and ends with the exclamatory "kana." Following the two preceding poems, it is another morning-after poem of leaving a lover deep in the night.
Author: Fujiwara no Sanekata
Source: Shika Wakashu
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