Hana no iro wa chiranu ma bakari furusato ni tsune ni wa matsu no midori nari keri - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

花の色は散らぬ間ばかりふるさとに
常には松の緑なりけり

Roma-ji: Hana no iro wa chiranu ma bakari furusato ni tsune ni wa matsu no midori nari keri
English Translation: The color of flowers
lasts only while they have not fallen;
in the old home here
what is always to be seen
is the green of the pines
Meaning: The color of the blossoms lasts only until they fall; what remains forever in this familiar place is the green of the pines.
Commentary: Book One Spring Poems I 43

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Several people gathered beneath a pine and gazed at the blossoms."
The poet realizes that the beauty of the blossoms' color lasts only until they fall, and that what always remains in this familiar place is the green of the pines. Contrasting fleeting flowers with the changeless pine, he finds lasting value in its green.
It was composed on the same occasion as the preceding poem, 42, by one of those gathered beneath the pine.
The poet, Fujiwara no Masatada, was a son of Fujiwara no Kanesuke and served as governor of Buzen and in other posts. He was Murasaki Shikibu's grandfather.

The first line, "The color of flowers," has six syllables, one more than the norm, and presents the beauty of the blossoms' color.
The second line, "lasts only while they have not fallen," expresses the transience of the flowers' beauty.
The third line, "in the old home here," names a long-familiar place, the spot beneath the pine where people have gathered.
The fourth line, "what is always to be seen," means "what is always there is the pine's," contrasting with "only while they have not fallen" in the second line.
In the last line, "keri" expresses a sigh of realization that what endures is the pines' green. The "deep green" of the preceding poem, 42, echoes the "green" of this last line, and the two poems form a pair.
Author: Fujiwara no Masatada
Source: Gosen Wakashu
Prev Poem: Fukamidori tokiwa no matsu no kage ni ite utsurou hana o yoso ni koso mire
Next Poem: Kurenai ni iro o ba kaete ume no hana ka zo kotogoto ni niowazari keru