Yo no naka o itou yamabe no kusaki to ya ana u no hana no iro ni idenikemu - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

世の中を厭ふ山辺の草木とや
あなうの花の色に出でにけむ

Roma-ji: Yo no naka o itou yamabe no kusaki to ya ana u no hana no iro ni idenikemu
English Translation: Is it because they are
the plants of hills where people
shun the world, that
the u-flower of "how bitter"
has shown its feeling in bloom?
Meaning: Is it because they grow on the hillsides where people flee the world, that the u-no-hana, whose name sounds like "ah, how bitter," has shown that feeling in the color of its blossoms?
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems II 949

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Hearing ana u, "ah, how bitter," in the name of the u-no-hana (deutzia) blooming on the hillside, the poet imagines that because these plants grow where world-weary people live, they have shown that bitterness in the color of their flowers. A sense of weariness with the world is carried inside the wit of a play on a flower's name.
It uses the same cry of grief as "ah, how bitter is this world" in 936, here linked to the name of the deutzia.
The author is recorded as anonymous, and the name has not come down to us.

The first line, "the world," names the secular world.
The second line, "the hills where people shun the world," refers to hillsides where those weary of the world hide away.
The third line, "is it because they are the plants," uses the interrogative ya, answered by the attributive kemu at the end.
The fourth line contains the pivot word ana u, both "ah, how bitter" and the u of u-no-hana, the deutzia that bears white flowers in early summer.
The last line, "has shown its feeling in bloom," uses iro ni izu, "to show in color," meaning to reveal one's inner feelings.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kokin Wakashu
Prev Poem: Yo no naka wa mukashi yori ya wa ukarikemu waga mi hitotsu no tame ni nareru ka
Next Poem: Miyoshino no yama no anata ni yado mogana yo no uki toki no kakurega ni semu