For you, my lady,
the branch I have broken off—
though it is but spring,
thus has it taken on
an autumn’s crimson leaves.

Meaning

For you, I have broken this branch—though it is spring, it has thus taken on the crimson leaves of autumn, like my own feelings.

Commentary

Episode Twenty: "For you, my lady"

A man courted a woman who lived in Yamato and formed a bond with her. Because he served at court in the capital, he could not remain in Yamato and so returned to the capital.
It seems there was no custom of taking a wife from the provinces to the capital, and the woman was left behind in Yamato.

On his way back to the capital, around the third month of spring, he sent this poem to her, enclosing a branch of maple.
It expresses that though he returns to the capital, his heart remains with his wife in Yamato.

Source

Ise Monogatari

Other

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.
If I go forth and leave, they will say my heart is light— so it may be said; for people do not know the way of this world between us.
Was it in vain that through the passing years in this fleeting world we pledged ourselves so lightly— and thus have I lived?

For you, my lady, the branch I have broken off— though it is but spring, thus has it taken on an autumn’s crimson leaves.

For you, my lady,
the branch I have broken off—
though it is but spring,
thus has it taken on
an autumn’s crimson leaves.