Utsurou wa kokoro no hoka no aki nareba ima wa yoso ni zo kiku no ue no tsuyu - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

移ろふは心のほかの秋なれば
今はよそにぞきくの上の露

Roma-ji: Utsurou wa kokoro no hoka no aki nareba ima wa yoso ni zo kiku no ue no tsuyu
English Translation: Since the fading hues
belong to an autumn not
of my heart's choosing,
now I only hear from afar
of the dew upon the chrysanthemums.
Meaning: Since their fading belongs to an autumn beyond my will, now I only hear from afar of the dew on the chrysanthemums.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1575

Headnote: "Recalling, after he had abdicated, the chrysanthemums he had planted in the garden of the Seiryōden."
This is the sixteenth poem of the sequence expressing personal feelings through the things of autumn. Since the chrysanthemums' fading belongs to an autumn beyond his will, the emperor says, he now only hears from afar of the dew upon them. According to the headnote, it was composed when Retired Emperor Reizei, after his abdication, recalled the chrysanthemums he had planted in the garden of the Seiryōden during his reign.
The author, "the Poem of Retired Emperor Reizei," is Emperor Reizei. A son of Emperor Murakami, he yielded the throne to his younger brother, Emperor En'yū, after about two years on the throne.
The Seiryōden was the hall within the palace where the emperor spent his daily life.

The first line, "utsurou wa," means "their fading." It overlays the chrysanthemums changing color in the frost with the changes in his own circumstances after leaving the throne.
The second line, "kokoro no hoka no," means "beyond my heart's will, unexpected."
The third line, "aki nareba," adds "ba" to the perfective form to state a fixed condition: "because it is autumn."
The fourth line, "ima wa yoso ni zo," means "now, from far away," and the binding of the particle "zo" lapses because the last line ends on a noun. It shows one who has left the palace.
In the last line, "kiku no ue no tsuyu," "kiku" plays on "kiku," chrysanthemum, and "kiku," to hear. Of the chrysanthemums he planted himself he now only hears from afar, entrusting the loneliness of an abdicated emperor to late-autumn chrysanthemums.
Author: Retired Emperor Reizei
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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