はねず色のうつろひやすき心あれば
年をぞ来経る言は絶えずて
年をぞ来経る言は絶えずて
- Roma-ji
-
Hanezuiro no utsuroi yasuki kokoro areba toshi o zo kifuru koto wa taezute
- English Translation
-
Like the hanezu hue
so quick to fade away,
your heart is fickle,
and so the years go by,
though your words never cease
- Meaning
- Your heart fades as easily as the hanezu color, and so the years go by, though your words never stop.
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts through Things 3074
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts through Things"
The poet laments that, because the beloved's heart fades like the hanezu color, the years pass with only words exchanged. It carries resentment toward one who is all talk and never comes to meet.
The poet is unknown. Book Twelve, titled the second part of "Love Poems Exchanged Old and New," gathers love poems by people whose names have not come down to us, arranged by category.
Line one, "hanezuiro no," is a pale red, thought to be the color of flowers such as the Japanese bush cherry, leading to "utsurou" because it fades easily. It is a hypermetric line of six syllables.
Line two, "utsuroi yasuki," means "quick to fade," likening fading color to a change of heart, like the dayflower of poems 3058 and 3059 in this book.
Line three, "kokoro areba," means "since there is such a heart," referring to the beloved's heart.
Line four, "toshi o zo kifuru," means "the years pass by," with "zo" concluded by the attributive "kifuru."
Line five, "koto wa taezute," means "while words never cease," resenting one who is all talk and never comes.
- Author
- Unknown
- Source
- Manyoshu
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