Ho ni wa idenu ika ni ka semashi hanasusuki mi o akikaze ni sute ya hatemu - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

ほには出でぬいかにかせまし花すすき
身を秋風に捨てや果ててん

Roma-ji: Ho ni wa idenu ika ni ka semashi hanasusuki mi o akikaze ni sute ya hatemu
English Translation: It has come to show,
like a plume—what shall I do?
plumed pampas grass,
to the autumn wind, my self,
shall I cast it off for good
Meaning: My love has shown itself like a plume of pampas grass—what shall I do? Shall I cast myself away for good to the autumn wind, like the swaying grass?
Commentary: Book Five Autumn Poems I 267

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet says that his love has come out into the open like a plume, and asks what he should do—shall he cast himself away to the autumn wind like plumed pampas grass? To pampas grass swaying in the autumn wind he entrusts the fear that a love now known to others may end in his being wearied of and cast aside.
The poet, Ono no Michikaze, was a grandson of Ono no Takamura and a son of Ono no Kuzuo. He served as Head of the Palace Storehouse Bureau, among other posts, and rose to Senior Fourth Rank, Lower Grade. Known as a master calligrapher, he is counted with Fujiwara no Sukemasa and Fujiwara no Yukinari among the Three Brush Traces.

In the first line, "ho" is a pivot word joining "ho," the plume of pampas grass, and "ho," appearing openly, and "nu" is the completive auxiliary: "it has come out into the open." The poem pauses here.
In the second line, "ka" is an interrogative particle and "mashi" is the attributive form of an auxiliary of hesitation: "what shall I do?" The poem pauses here.
The third line, "hanasusuki," is pampas grass in plume, an associated word of "ho" in the first line.
In the fourth line, "aki," autumn, echoes "aki," weariness, hinting at being wearied of by the beloved. He overlays himself on pampas grass bending in the autumn wind.
In the last line, "ya" is an interrogative particle and "ten" combines intensification and conjecture: "shall I cast it away for good?" "Ya" and the attributive "n" form a kakarimusubi pattern.
Author: Ono no Michikaze
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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