Katashiki no sode ni hitori wa akasedomo otsuru namida zo yo o kasanekeru - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

片敷きの袖にひとりは明かせども
落つる涙ぞ夜を重ねける

Roma-ji: Katashiki no sode ni hitori wa akasedomo otsuru namida zo yo o kasanekeru
English Translation: On my one spread sleeve
I pass the nights all alone,
and yet it is so
that the tears which fall from me
pile up, night upon night
Meaning: Alone I pass the nights with only my own sleeve spread beneath me, yet the tears that fall pile up night upon night.
Commentary: Book Six Parting Poems 338

On the road, the poet passes the nights alone with only his own sleeve spread beneath him, yet his falling tears pile up night after night. Setting 'alone' against 'piling up', the poem conveys the hardship of sleeping alone on a journey and the deepening longing for someone in the capital.
Some manuscripts name Fujiwara no Nagafusa as the author and give the headnote 'Sent from the road to a person serving Jōtōmon'in, when Lord Tsunesuke went down as Governor-General of Dazaifu.' It would then be a poem sent to a lady in the service of Jōtōmon'in while accompanying Fujiwara no Tsunesuke to his post.
Poems 338 and 339 in this book form a pair, a poem sent from the road and a poem by one who read it.

First line, 'katashiki no', means spreading only one's own sleeve to sleep, a poetic phrase for sleeping alone.
Second line, 'sode ni hitori wa', means alone on my sleeve, sharing the word sode, sleeve, with the final line 'sode wa nurekeru' of the next poem, 339.
Third line, 'akasedomo', means though I pass the night, using the concessive domo.
Fourth line, 'otsuru namida zo', means the falling tears, the particle zo binding with the attributive keru in the final line. Tears also appear in the final line 'namida narikeri' of poem 336 in this book.
Final line, 'yo o kasanekeru', means they pile up night upon night, setting the piling tears against 'alone' in the second line and also showing the days of the journey adding up.
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
Prev Poem: Okure ite waga koioreba shirakumo no tanabiku yama o kyō ya koyuramu
Next Poem: Wakareji o geni ika bakari nagekuramu kiku hito sae zo sode wa nurekeru