Asajihara ato naki nobe ni oku tsuyu no musubōretsutsu kie ya wataramu

浅茅原跡なき野辺に置く露の
結ぼほれつつ消えや渡らむ

Roma-ji: Asajihara ato naki nobe ni oku tsuyu no musubōretsutsu kie ya wataramu
English Translation: Like the dew that lies
on the moor of low reeds
where no footprints show,
all knotted up in sorrow
shall I go on fading?
Meaning: Like the dew on the reed-covered moor where no one's footprints show, shall I go on vanishing, my heart knotted in gloom?
Commentary: Love Poems 509

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Love in winter"
Like dew on a reed-covered moor where no one has passed, the poet wonders whether he will fade away with his heart knotted in gloom. The loneliness of a love no longer visited is entrusted to the dew on wintry fields.
According to the notes in the base text, the Ruijū and Teika texts differ in line 2. Here the base text is followed.

Line 1 names a moor of low reeds, suggesting desolation.
Line 2 means "on fields with no trace of anyone," taking up the unvisited garden of the preceding poem.
Line 3 means "like the dew that settles."
Line 4 overlays dew congealing and a heart knotted in gloom.
Line 5: ya binds the attributive mu; the same last line as 504.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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