The white chrysanthemums
that glow in crimson hue—
are they, perhaps,
the layered sleeves
of the one who plucked them?

Meaning

The white chrysanthemums that glow in crimson hue—might they be the layered sleeves of the one who plucked them?

Commentary

Episode Eighteen: "In crimson glow"

There was a woman of somewhat affected taste in elegance, and near her lived a man.
This poem is the man’s reply to, "Where is the crimson glowing in beauty? White snow seems to have fallen bending the branches low."

Though he had been subtly provoked in her poem, he perceived her intent and, pretending not to notice, returned a poem that in effect says to her, "You have exquisite taste."

Source

Ise Monogatari

Other

Had you not come today, tomorrow it would have fallen like falling snow; and though it did not melt away, would you still have seen it as blossom?
Where is the crimson glowing in beauty? White snow seems to have fallen bending the branches low.
Like clouds in heaven, does he become a distant one, far beyond my reach? And yet, for all that, he remains before my eyes.
Like clouds in heaven, kept only at a distance, all this while— it is the wind upon the mountain where you dwell that blows so hard.

The white chrysanthemums that glow in crimson hue— are they, perhaps, the layered sleeves of the one who plucked them?

The white chrysanthemums
that glow in crimson hue—
are they, perhaps,
the layered sleeves
of the one who plucked them?