Omou yori ika ni seyo to ka akikaze ni nabiku asaji no iro koto ni naru - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

思ふよりいかにせよとかあき風に
なびく浅茅の色ことになる

Roma-ji: Omou yori ika ni seyo to ka akikaze ni nabiku asaji no iro koto ni naru
English Translation: Loving as I do,
what more would you have me do?
In the autumn wind
the low reeds bend and sway,
their color turned to something else.
Meaning: I love you so—what more do you want of me? Like the low reeds bending in the autumn wind, your heart has tired of me and changed its color.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 725

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Despite the speaker's deep love, the lover's heart has changed, just as the color of low reeds bending in the autumn wind changes—so the poem laments. Making "aki" mean both autumn and weariness, it entrusts to the changing reeds the grief of being tired of and abandoned.
Against "iro fukaku" in 723 of this book, here it is the "color" of the lover's heart that changes, leading into "chiji no iro ni utsurou" in the next poem, 726. The pivot word "aki" also appears in 688 and 719 of this book.

The first line, "omou yori," means "though I love you so," showing the depth of the speaker's feelings.
The second line, "ika ni seyo to ka," means "what would you have me do?", with the particle "ka" forming a kakari-musubi with "naru" in the last line.
In the third line, "akikaze ni," "aki" is a pivot word joining the season of autumn and the weariness that makes a heart drift away.
The fourth line, "nabiku asaji no," refers to low reeds bending in the wind, sung of as changing color in autumn.
The final line, "iro koto ni naru," means "their color becomes different," "koto" meaning "different," standing for the lover's change of heart; it closes in the attributive form in answer to the "ka" of the second line.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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