Morasu na yo kumo iru mine no hatsushigure ko no ha wa shita ni iro kawaru tomo - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

もらすなよ雲ゐる峰の初時雨
木の葉は下に色変はるとも

Roma-ji: Morasu na yo kumo iru mine no hatsushigure ko no ha wa shita ni iro kawaru tomo
English Translation: Do not let it slip,
first shower of early winter
on the cloud-hung peak,
though the leaves that lie beneath
may be changing in their hue.
Meaning: Do not let it slip, you first winter shower falling on the cloud-hung peak, even if, down below, the leaves are quietly changing color.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 1087

Headnote: "When I was Major Captain of the Left and held a hundred-poem contest at my house; on the idea of 'Hidden Love.'"
This is the second poem of the sequence on hidden love that turns on "letting slip." Calling to the first shower on the peak not to let it slip, even if the leaves change color beneath, the speaker warns against a hidden love coming to light. According to the headnote, it was composed on the topic "Hidden Love" for a hundred-poem contest the author held at his house when he was Major Captain of the Left.
The author, "Regent and Grand Chancellor," is Fujiwara no Yoshitsune. The son of Regent Kujō Kanezane, he rose to regent and grand chancellor and wrote the kana preface to the Shin Kokinshū.
This contest is the Poetry Contest in Six Hundred Rounds, held by Yoshitsune in Kenkyū 4 (1193).

The first line, "morasu na yo," means "do not let it slip," the prohibitive "na" joined to the calling "yo." The poem breaks after the first line; taking up "morasu" from the preceding poem, it sets a strong prohibition at its head.
The second line, "kumo iru mine no," means "on the peak where clouds hang," a peak closed off by cloud and beyond the reach of others' eyes.
The third line, "hatsushigure," is the first shower of winter, thought to dye the leaves. Here the one being addressed is revealed.
The fourth line, "ko no ha wa shita ni," means "the leaves, down below," coloring where they cannot be seen from above. The preceding poem also speaks of leaves and of "shita," so the two poems are placed side by side through the same words.
In the last line, "iro kawaru tomo," "tomo" is concessive: "even if their color changes." The leaves secretly turning color are laid over a heart being dyed by love, and through inversion the poem returns to the prohibition of its first line.
Author: Fujiwara no Yoshitsune
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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