月草に衣はすらむ朝露に
濡れての後はうつろひぬとも
濡れての後はうつろひぬとも
- Roma-ji
-
Tsukikusa ni koromo wa suramu asatsuyu ni
nurete no nochi wa utsuroinu tomo - English Translation
-
with moonflower’s hue
I would dye these sleeves I wear—
though with morning dew
once they are soaked through and through
their color may fade away.
- Meaning
- I would dye my garments with the color of the moonflower, even though, once wet with the morning dew, their color will surely fade.
- Commentary
-
Book Four Autumn Poems (Part One)
Garments dyed with the moonflower (tsukikusa) easily lose their color when wet. The poem suggests a willingness to accept such fleetingness—perhaps implying a desire to share even a single night with someone whose feelings may quickly change.
"Tsukikusa" refers to the dayflower, known for its easily fading dye.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
-
- all in shades of green I saw them as a single grass in the springtime fields— yet in autumn they appear as flowers of many hues.
- amid a hundred grasses whose blossoms loose their cords wide in autumn fields fair, let my heart give way to longing— let no one reproach me so.
- the village lies in ruin, its people grown old with years— is it such a place? both garden and its hedges seem but an autumn field now.
- as soon as it blows forth the grasses and trees of autumn wither straight away— no wonder then that mountain winds are called by the name of storm.