Kurenai no kosome no koromo iro fukaku shimi ni shikaba ka wasurekanetsuru

紅の深染めの衣色深く
染みにしかばか忘れかねつる

Roma-ji: Kurenai no kosome no koromo iro fukaku shimi ni shikaba ka wasurekanetsuru
English Translation: Like a robe of crimson
dyed in the deepest of hues,
deep is the color:
is it that it has soaked in
that I cannot forget you
Meaning: As a robe dyed in deep crimson holds its color deep, so has my love soaked deep into my heart; is that why I cannot forget?
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2624

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
As a robe dyed deep in crimson holds its deep color, the speaker's feelings for the beloved have soaked deep into the heart, and perhaps for that reason they cannot be forgotten: this is a love poem. Asking itself why it cannot forget, the poem lays the depth of love etched in the heart over the deep crimson that has soaked into the cloth.
The headnote continues from the preceding poem, "Expressing Feelings through Things," and this poem speaks through a robe dyed deep crimson. It shares the first line "kurenai no" with the preceding poem, 2623, so that two poems on crimson robes stand side by side; where that poem says the beloved grows only dearer with familiarity, this one says love has soaked in too deeply to be forgotten. Its last line, "wasurekanetsuru," also uses the same phrasing as the last line of poem 2622 in this book, "wasurekanetsu mo."
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, "kurenai no": "of crimson," the vivid red dyed with safflower. It is the same first line as the preceding poem, 2623.
Second line, "kosome no koromo": "a deep-dyed robe," a robe dyed in a dark hue. The first and second lines form an introductory phrase leading to "iro fukaku" in the third line.
Third line, "iro fukaku": "deep in color," overlaying the depth of the robe's hue with the depth to which love has soaked into the heart.
Fourth line, "shimi ni shikaba ka": "is it because it has soaked in?" "Ni" is the continuative form of the completion auxiliary "nu," "shika" is the perfective form of the past auxiliary "ki," "ba" gives a reason, and "ka" is an interrogative particle.
Fifth line, "wasurekanetsuru": "that I cannot forget." Answering the particle "ka" in the fourth line, it closes with "tsuru," the attributive form of the completion auxiliary "tsu," a kakari-musubi construction. It is the same phrasing as the last line of poem 2622 in this book, "wasurekanetsu mo."
Source: Manyoshu
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