Sanitsurau iro ni wa idezu sukunaku mo kokoro no uchi ni waga omowanaku ni

さ丹つらふ色には出でず少なくも
心のうちに我が思はなくに

Roma-ji: Sanitsurau iro ni wa idezu sukunaku mo kokoro no uchi ni waga omowanaku ni
English Translation: Glowing crimson red,
it does not show in my face;
yet not just a little
deep within my heart
do I think of you, my love
Meaning: I do not let it show in my face, but it is no small love that I hold within my heart.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2523

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing One's Feelings Directly"
The speaker protests: I do not let it show in my face, but it is no small love I hold within, I love you deeply. The frustration of one who hides love and goes unnoticed seeps through.
This is a poem expressing feelings directly; like "though in my heart I loved" in the preceding poem, it sings of an inner feeling not shown outwardly. Its first line, "sanitsurau," is the same word as "nitsurau" in poem 2521, and the glowing red is used here as the color of love that might show in the face.
The author is unknown. The anonymous poems of Book Eleven gather love poems by people whose names have not come down to us.

First line, "sanitsurau": a pillow word attached to "color." "Sa" is a prefix, and from the sense of glowing red it leads to "iro," the color of one's face.
Second line, "iro ni wa idezu": "it does not show in my face." The particle "wa" singles it out, and the negative "zu" closes the statement. The poem breaks after the second line.
Third line, "sukunaku mo": "even a little." It answers the negative of the last line, expressing a love that is anything but slight.
Fourth line, "kokoro no uchi ni": "within my heart," set against the outward color of the face to show where the love resides.
Fifth line, "waga omowanaku ni": "though it is not that I love only a little." "Naku ni" is the nominalized form of the negative "zu" followed by "ni," closing with deep feeling.
Source: Manyoshu
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