Akihagi no eda mo tōo ni tsuyujimo oki samuku mo toki wa narinikeru ka mo

秋萩の枝もとををに露霜置き
寒くも時はなりにけるかも

Roma-ji: Akihagi no eda mo tōo ni tsuyujimo oki samuku mo toki wa narinikeru ka mo
English Translation: Autumn bush clover,
its branches bending low,
heavy with dewfrost;
chill and cold the time has grown,
it has come to this at last.
Meaning: Dew and frost have settled on the autumn bush clover till its branches bend—the season has grown cold.
Commentary: Book Ten Autumn Miscellaneous Poems 2170

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On Dew"
This poem knows that the season has grown cold, with dew and frost settling on the autumn bush clover till its branches bend. The deepening of the season, as dew turns to frost, is shown visually by the bending clover branches. Like "shidariyanagi no tōo ni mo" in 1896 of the spring love poems, it uses "tōo" to depict branches bending.

The first line, "of the autumn bush clover," names the plant.
In the second line, "eda mo tōo ni," "tōo" describes branches bending.
The third line, "dew and frost settle," is hypermetric.
The fourth line, "the time is cold," names the season.
In the last line, "narinikeru ka mo," "keri" and "ka mo" are exclamatory, closing with the feeling of noticing the season's deepening.
Source: Manyoshu
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