Omou chō koto no ha nomi ya aki o hete iro mo kawaranu mono ni wa aruramu - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

思ふてふ言の葉のみやあきを経て
色も変はらぬものにはあるらむ

Roma-ji: Omou chō koto no ha nomi ya aki o hete iro mo kawaranu mono ni wa aruramu
English Translation: Only the leaves of words
that say "I think of you" stay,
though autumn has passed,
unchanging in their color—
is that the way of such things?
Meaning: Is it only the leaves of words—"I love you"—that keep their color unchanged even after autumn, after weariness, has come?
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 688

Headnote: "A poem from the poetry contest held at the residence of the Empress Dowager in the reign of the Kanpyō emperor"
Leaves change color in autumn, yet the words "I love you" alone stay the same: the poem mocks the emptiness of words from a lover whose heart has changed. By likening "koto no ha" (words, literally "leaves of speech") to leaves on a tree and making "aki" mean both autumn and weariness, it brings out the gap between unchanging words and a heart that has changed.
The headnote's "poetry contest at the Empress Dowager's residence in the Kanpyō reign" was held for Princess Hanshi, mother of Emperor Uda, during his reign; 715 in this book also comes from the same contest.

The first line, "omou chō," means "that say 'I love you'," "chō" being a contraction of "to iu."
The second line, "koto no ha nomi ya," means "only the words," likening words to leaves, with the particle "ya" forming a kakari-musubi with "ramu" in the last line. "Koto no ha" also appears in 712, 736 and 737 of this book.
In the third line, "aki o hete," "aki" is a pivot word meaning both the season of autumn and the weariness that makes a heart drift away.
The fourth line, "iro mo kawaranu," overlays the color of leaves that do not turn with the words that never change.
The final line, "mono ni wa aruramu," means "is that how they are?", closing with the attributive form of the present conjectural "ramu" in answer to the "ya" of the second line.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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