Among mingled blooms
I cannot tell which color
stands above the rest,
and yet there is nothing here
that comes near the summer pink

Meaning

Among all these flowers blooming together I cannot say which color is finest, and still nothing comes near the summer pink.

Commentary

Part One: Hahakigi

　Receiving her poem on the dew and the pink, To no Chujo sent back this one. Where she had likened their small daughter to a pink, he uses another name for the same flower to mean the mother herself, answering that she surpasses them all. But the words were not enough to quiet her fears, and unable to bear the threats from his wife's household she vanished. He still does not know where mother and child have gone, and tells it all as a story for that night.

　"Tokonatsu" is another name for the pink, and it also echoes "toko," a bed, hinting at the bond between man and woman. She had used the flower for the daughter; he uses its other name for the mother, taking up the exchange skillfully. Yet he goes no further than saying nothing surpasses her, and offers no word about protecting her—which is where the weakness of the whole relationship shows.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

Among mingled blooms I cannot tell which color stands above the rest, and yet there is nothing here that comes near the summer pink

Among mingled blooms
I cannot tell which color
stands above the rest,
and yet there is nothing here
that comes near the summer pink