Konu hito o omoitaetaru niwa no omo no yomogi ga sue zo matsu ni masareru - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

来ぬ人を思ひ絶えたる庭の面の
蓬が末ぞまつにまされる

Roma-ji: Konu hito o omoitaetaru niwa no omo no yomogi ga sue zo matsu ni masareru
English Translation: Giving up at last
on the one who does not come,
in my garden plot
the mugwort tips now grow taller
than the pines, than my waiting.
Meaning: In the garden where I have given up hope of the one who never comes, the tips of the mugwort now grow higher than the pines, and thicker than in the days when I still waited.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 1287

Headnote: "When composing a hundred-poem sequence at the house of the Regent and Grand Minister."
This is the third poem of the sequence on love unvisited in a neglected dwelling. In the garden where I have given up on the one who never comes, the speaker says, the mugwort tips have outgrown the pines, surpassing even the days of waiting. According to the headnote, it was composed for a hundred-poem sequence at the house of Fujiwara no Yoshitsune.
The author, "Jakuren the Priest," is Jakuren. His lay name was Fujiwara no Sadanaga; a nephew of Fujiwara no Shunzei, he was adopted as his son. He was appointed a compiler of the Shinkokinshū but died before its completion.

The first line, "konu hito o," means "the one who does not come." It is the same as the first line of 1283.
The second line, "omoitaetaru," means "having given up hope." Going a step beyond the waiting hearts of the preceding poems, it sings of the garden after waiting has ceased.
The third line, "niwa no omo no," has six syllables, one more than the norm, and means "on the surface of the garden." It takes up "niwa no" from the last line of the preceding poem.
The fourth line, "yomogi ga sue zo," means "the tips of the mugwort." "Zo" is answered by the attributive "masareru" in the last line.
In the last line, "matsu ni masareru," "matsu" is a pivot word meaning both the garden "pine" and "waiting." The scene of mugwort grown taller than the pines is overlaid with the sense that the garden is more desolate than in the days of waiting. Though the speaker claims to have given up, the ruin of the garden tells of a lingering heart that waits.
Author: Jakuren
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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