Aoyagi no ito wa katagata nabiku tomo omoisometemu iro wa kawaraji - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

青柳の糸はかたがたなびくとも
思ひそめてむ色は変はらじ

Roma-ji: Aoyagi no ito wa katagata nabiku tomo omoisometemu iro wa kawaraji
English Translation: Though the willow's threads
may bend and sway this way, that,
in the blowing wind,
the color I have dyed my heart
when love began will not change.
Meaning: Though the green willow's threads may sway this way and that, and my heart may turn in many directions, the color with which I dyed my heart when I first loved you will never change.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 1252

Headnote: "Sent again."
This is the fifth poem of the sequence of exchanges among members of the court. Though the willow threads sway in every direction and my heart may turn this way and that, he says, the color of my first love will not change. According to the headnote, it was sent again after receiving the preceding reply.
The author, "Poem of Go-Suzaku-in," is Emperor Go-Suzaku. A son of Emperor Ichijō, his mother was Fujiwara no Shōshi. With Empress Princess Teishi he fathered Emperor Go-Sanjō. "Poem of Go-Suzaku-in" means a poem composed by Emperor Go-Suzaku.
The Consort answers in the next poem, 1253.
In the main text, the last line reads "iro wa kawaraji," which does not match "iro zo kawaraji" in the reading line. Here the main text is followed.

The first line, "aoyagi no," is the same as the first line of the preceding poem and carries on the words of the exchange.
In the second line, "ito wa katagata," "katagata" means "here and there." It is also the word used by Yōmeimon'in, the empress of the same Emperor Go-Suzaku, in 1240: "katagata ni hikiwakaretsutsu."
The third line, "nabiku tomo," is a concessive supposition: "even if the threads sway in all directions." Even if my heart turns toward other consorts, he replies to "hitosuji ni shimo" in the preceding poem.
In the fourth line, "omoisometemu," "some" is a pivot word meaning both "begin to love" and "dye." "Temu," the perfective "tsu" joined to the conjectural "mu," modifies the "color" that follows.
The last line, "iro wa kawaraji," means "the dyed color will not change." "Iro," color, is an associated word for dyeing, and the green of the willow is overlaid on his single-hearted love as he makes his vow.
Author: Emperor Go-Suzaku
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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