Since autumn belongs
not to any single one,
maidenflower, why
do you show your color so soon,
fading even before its time?
- Meaning
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Since autumn belongs to no one alone, maidenflower, why do you show your color so soon and fade before the proper time?
- Commentary
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Book Four Autumn Poems (Part One)
Composed and presented at the maidenflower contest held at the Suzaku-in.
At first glance, the poem laments how the maidenflower fades earlier than other flowers. Yet “aki” (autumn) also suggests “weariness in love,” and “utsurou” carries both the meaning of fading color and a change of heart. Thus, from a man’s perspective, the poem expresses a complaint about a woman’s quick change of affection.
“Nazo” means “why.”
“Madaki” means “already” or “before the proper time.”
- Author
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Ki no Tsurayuki
- Source
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Kokin Wakashu
- Other
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Maidenflowers sway
in autumn fields, bent by the wind—
so too her heart;—
to whom, I wonder, does she
give that single, wayward heart?
-
Maidenflower, you—
hard it is to meet but in
the autumn alone;—
though you do not grow, in truth,
upon Heaven’s river shore.
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The stag cries aloud,
seeking ever for his mate—
maidenflower, you,
do you not know that you grow
in the field where he abides?
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Autumn wind that blows
past the maidenflowers comes on—
though unseen to eyes,
its fragrance alone reveals
clearly that it has passed by.