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Kokinshu #104
Monday, 27 June 2011 07:00 Written on seeing flowers fading.
When I see flowers
my heart certainly
fades with them as well.
I won't display these changes --
even that person won't know.
hana mireba
kokoro sae ni zo
utsurikeri
iro ni wa ideji
hito mo koso shire
When I see flowers
my heart certainly
fades with them as well.
I won't display these changes --
even that person won't know.
— 26 June 2011
Original by Ôshikôchi no Mitsune. In the original what he won't put forth is iro, here meaning both the flower's "color" and his own "appearance"/"feeling." While "changes" is not literal, it avoids collapsing the ambiguity. The point about not showing another seems to be to keep his lover from imitating the flowers by altering her affections. (It's either that, or he's affecting a stoicism unbecoming in a Heian courtier.) If it weren't for that last bit of forced cleverness, I'd like this poem a lot for its layering of meanings. As it is, my first three lines don't do it justice.hana mireba
kokoro sae ni zo
utsurikeri
iro ni wa ideji
hito mo koso shire