世の中の人の心は花染めの
移ろひやすき色にぞありける
移ろひやすき色にぞありける
- Roma-ji
-
Yo no naka no hito no kokoro wa hanazome no utsuroiyasuki iro ni zo arikeru
- English Translation
-
In this world of ours
the hearts of the ones we love
are like flower-dye,
and how easily they fade:
such indeed is their color
- Meaning
- The hearts of people in love are like a color dyed with flowers, a color that so easily fades.
- Commentary
-
Book Fifteen Love Poems V 795
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poem likens the human heart to colors dyed with dayflower and other blossoms, which fade easily, and laments its fickleness. Here begins a sequence sharing "fade," "flower," and "color" to sing of changeable hearts, continuing to "dye" in the next poem and to Ono no Komachi's "what fades without its color showing" in the one after.
The first line refers to relations between men and women. The same phrase appears in the third line of poem 797.
The second line names the lover's heart, or the human heart in general, marked as topic by wa.
The third line names cloth dyed with the juice of dayflowers and other flowers, known for fading quickly.
The fourth line layers colors that fade easily with hearts that change easily.
The last line resolves zo with the attributive of keri, expressing the realization that the heart is a flower-dyed color.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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-
Yoshinogawa yoshiya hito koso tsurakarame hayaku iiteshi koto wa wasureji
- Next Poem
-
Kokoro koso utate nikukere somezaraba utsurou koto mo oshikaramashi ya