Hagi no ha ya tsuyu no keshiki mo uchitsuke ni motoyori kawaru kokoro aru mono o - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

萩の葉や露のけしきもうちつけに
もとより変はる心あるものを

Roma-ji: Hagi no ha ya tsuyu no keshiki mo uchitsuke ni motoyori kawaru kokoro aru mono o
English Translation: Leaves of bush clover—
at the merest hint of dew
they change all at once;
from the first they have a heart
that is given to changing
Meaning: The leaves of bush clover change color at the merest hint of dew; they have a fickle heart from the very start.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Love Poems V 1347

Headnote: "Reply."
This is the twelfth poem of the dew sequence and the reply to the preceding poem. The speaker answers that bush-clover leaves change color at the merest hint of dew, having a fickle heart from the start, and lightly deflects the other's plea that feelings have shown.
The author, "Fujiwara no Korenari," served Emperor Kazan as a close attendant, holding posts such as Provisional Middle Controller of the Left, and took the tonsure when the emperor abdicated and became a monk.

The first line, "hagi no ha ya," takes up "kohagi ga shitaba" from the preceding poem. The particle "ya" singles out the bush-clover leaves with a note of exclamation.
The second line, "tsuyu no keshiki mo," means "even at the look of the dew." The dew absent from the preceding poem is brought in here, and the coloring of the leaves is laid to its doing.
The third line, "uchitsuke ni," means "all at once," echoing the "uchi" of "uchihaete," the first line of the preceding poem. Against that poem's long span of sleepless nights, this answers with a sudden change.
The fourth line, "motoyori kawaru," means "changeable from the start." It reinterprets the "showed their color" of the preceding poem as a sign of a changing heart.
In the last line, "kokoro aru mono o," "mono o" is a concessive exclamation: "though it has a changeable heart." It is a reply that turns the other's plea back as a sign of fickleness.
Author: Fujiwara no Korenari
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
Prev Poem: Uchihaete i ya wa neraruru Miyagino no kohagi ga shitaba iro ni ideshi yori
Next Poem: Yomosugara kiekaeritsuru waga mi kana namida no tsuyu ni musubohore tsutsu