Aki saraba utsushi mo semu to waga makishi karaai no hana o tare ka tsumikemu

秋さらば移しもせむと我が蒔きし
韓藍の花を誰れか摘みけむ

Roma-ji: Aki saraba utsushi mo semu to waga makishi karaai no hana o tare ka tsumikemu
English Translation: When autumn has come
I would use it for my dye,
so I sowed the seeds—
the flowers of karaai,
who could it be that plucked them?
Meaning: I sowed the karaai, meaning to dye with it when autumn came—who could it be that has plucked its flowers?
Commentary: Book Seven Allegorical Poems 1362

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On Flowers"
The poet asks who has plucked the karaai flowers he sowed, meaning to dye with them when autumn came. The karaai flower stands for a girl whose growing up he had watched and waited for, and the poem expresses his chagrin at losing her to another man.
It is one of the poems under the heading "On Flowers." The figure of transferring a flower's color to cloth is akin to "rubbing its dye into my robe" in the preceding poem. The poet is unknown.

The first line, "When autumn has come," states the time.
The second line, "I would use it for my dye," refers to "utsushi," transferring flower juice to cloth.
The third line, "so I sowed the seeds," shows that he raised the plant himself.
The fourth line, "the flowers of karaai," gives the figure for the girl he had watched over.
In the final line, the particle "ka" is answered by the attributive "kemu."
Source: Manyoshu
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