Momokusa ni midarete miyuru hana no iro wa tada shiratsuyu no oku ni ya aruramu

English Translation

The color of these
flowers, that seem all tangled in
among the grasses —
does it lie only where the
white dew settles, deep within?

Meaning

The color of these flowers, tangled among a hundred grasses — does it lie only in where the white dew chooses to settle, deep within?

Commentary

11 Kaneie's Visits Return

In the seventh month, about the time of the wrestling festival, Kaneie sent over a set of old robes and a set of new ones, wrapped up, asking that they be made up for him. The sight of them made the author's head swim. An old-fashioned member of the household thought it a pity, but the more spirited ones gathered and settled it among themselves — the thing was absurd, and better to be spoken ill of for failing to do it — and sent the bundles back. Sure enough, word came that he was having them made up here and there about the town. On his side too the refusal must have seemed very unkind, for more than twenty days passed without any word. Then at some point a letter came, saying that he would like to come but felt too awkward, and that if there were some definite occasion he might venture, timidly. She meant to send no answer, but the household said it was too unkind, and so she sent a poem. A reply came by return, and when the messenger came again she sent another; and Kaneie, smoothing the matter over in words, appeared once more. Gazing out at the garden flowers blooming in their various colors, they exchanged poems that were, on both sides, reproaches. Then, late in the night, when the moon of the twentieth rose above the ridge and he showed signs of leaving, the author composed a poem, and Kaneie answered it and stayed. Afterward there was something like a typhoon, and two days later he came. When the author remarked that an ordinary man would have asked how she had fared in the wind the other day, he seemed to think she had a point, and without any fuss composed a poem. Four poems passed between them, and the author, in no mood to be beaten, answered him back. Perhaps people judged that she was entitled to say as much. Then again, about the tenth month, he made to go out on some business he said could not be put off; the rain was more than could be called a passing shower, and yet he still meant to go, and in her astonishment a poem came to her lips.
Kaneie was the third son of Fujiwara no Morosuke and at this time Assistant Commander of the Right Guards; he would rise to be regent and chancellor. The author was a daughter of Fujiwara no Tomoyasu. The old-fashioned person who speaks about the robes is an elderly gentlewoman of conservative views.
It is the seventh month of the first year of Tentoku, about the time of the wrestling festival, and the place is the author's dwelling.
Kaneie having appeared again, they gazed together at the garden flowers blooming in their various colors, and this poem came to her lips as she lay there. The narrative notes that what passed between them was on both sides a reproach.
Kaneie answered with "Mi no aki o omoi midaruru hana no ue no tsuyu no kokoro wa ieba sara nari."

The opening means mingled among many grasses; it is the garden before her eyes and at the same time a picture of Kaneie's life among many women. The second line means that they appear all tangled together, laying the disorder of the plants over the disorder of the heart. The third fixes the subject on the flowers, and what follows asks where their color comes from. The white dew is what settles on grass and flower and was held to give them their color; here it stands for the man's affection. In the close, the verb for the dew's settling is also the word for what lies deep within, and on that the poem turns. To say that the flower's color depends on where the dew chooses to settle is to say that her own situation hangs entirely on where his heart is placed. It has the air of an idle verse spoken while looking at a garden, and yet the whole reproach is folded away inside the scene.

Author

The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna

Source

Kagero Nikki

Other