Niwakusa no tsuyu no kazu sou murasame ni yo fukaki mushi no koe zo kanashiki

庭草の露の数そふ村雨に
夜深き虫の声ぞ悲しき

Roma-ji: Niwakusa no tsuyu no kazu sou murasame ni yo fukaki mushi no koe zo kanashiki
English Translation: As the passing shower
adds more drops of shining dew
to the garden grass,
deep within the night, the insects'
voices sound so full of grief.
Meaning: In the passing shower that adds to the dewdrops on the garden grass, the voices of the insects deep in the night sound so sorrowful.
Commentary: Autumn Poems 249

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Insects"
As a passing shower falls, adding to the dewdrops on the garden grass, the voices of insects late at night sound sorrowful. Raindrops and dew and insect voices overlap, deepening the loneliness of the autumn night.

Line 1 means "of the garden grass."
Line 2 means "adding to the number of dewdrops."
Line 3, murasame, is a shower that pours for a while and stops.
Line 4 means "of the insects deep in the night," taking up "at midnight" in the preceding poem, 248, and continuing to sing of insects at night.
Line 5 concludes the binding particle zo with the attributive kanashiki. The preceding poem sang of insects crying at the cold of the autumn wind, this one of insects in a passing shower, so wind and rain pair the two poems.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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