Ominaeshi orikemu sode no fushi goto ni suginishi kimi o omoiide ya seshi - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

女郎花折りけん袖のふしごとに
過ぎにし君を思ひ出でやせし

Roma-ji: Ominaeshi orikemu sode no fushi goto ni suginishi kimi o omoiide ya seshi
English Translation: The maiden flowers
that you picked—at every joint
along their stems,
did you not think back upon
the one now long gone by
Meaning: When you picked the maiden flowers, at every joint of their stems, did you not think back on me, the one who belongs to your past?
Commentary: Book Six Autumn Poems II 349

Headnote: "On hearing that, when the Cloistered Emperor asked for the maiden flowers of Ise's house, she presented them."
The poet asks whether Ise, who is said to have picked the maiden flowers, did not think of him from the past at every joint as she picked them. He seeks to stir in Ise, once his lover, memories of former days.
According to the headnote, it was composed on hearing that when Retired Emperor Uda asked for the maiden flowers of Ise's house, she presented them to him. The next poem is Ise's reply, and the book closes with this exchange.
The poet, called "the Biwa Minister of the Left," is Fujiwara no Nakahira. The second son of the Regent Fujiwara no Mototsune, he rose to Minister of the Left. Because he lived at the Biwa mansion, he was called the Biwa Minister of the Left. That he and Ise were lovers in their youth is recorded in the Ise Collection and elsewhere.

The first line, "Ominaeshi," means "the maiden flowers," taking up the flowers presented in the headnote.
In the second line, "kemu" expresses past hearsay: "of the sleeves that, I hear, picked them."
In the third line, "fushi" is a pivot word joining "fushi," the joints of the maiden flower's stem, and "fushi," each occasion. It is also an associated word of "ori," picking.
The fourth line, "suginishi kimi o," means "the one gone by," pointing to the poet himself, her former lover.
In the last line, "ya" is an interrogative particle and "shi," the attributive form of the past auxiliary "ki," completes the kakarimusubi pattern: "did you not remember?"
Author: Fujiwara no Nakahira
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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