Nani ni kiku iro somekaeshi niouran hana motehayasu kimi mo konaku ni - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

何に菊色染めかへしにほふらん
花もてはやす君も来なくに

Roma-ji: Nani ni kiku iro somekaeshi niouran hana motehayasu kimi mo konaku ni
English Translation: For what, I wonder,
do chrysanthemums dye anew
their hues and glow,
when you, who would praise the flowers,
do not come here any more
Meaning: For what do the chrysanthemums dye their colors anew and bloom so brightly, when you, who would praise the flowers, no longer come?
Commentary: Book Seven Autumn Poems III 400

Headnote: "When a man had not come for a long time."
The poet asks for what purpose the chrysanthemums dye their colors anew and bloom so beautifully, when the one who would praise them no longer comes. The loneliness of waiting for a lover who does not visit is entrusted to chrysanthemums blooming beautifully with no one to see them.
According to the headnote, it was composed when a man who had been visiting did not come for a long time. Chrysanthemums whose color changed with the frost were prized as "fading chrysanthemums," and their change of color echoes the man's change of heart. It closes the poems on chrysanthemums that begin with 397 of this book.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us. The text gives the poet as "yomibito mo," which is treated here as "anonymous."

The first line, "Nani ni kiku," means "for what, chrysanthemums."
The second line, "iro somekaeshi," means "dyeing their color anew," pointing to chrysanthemums that turn from white to purple with the frost.
In the third line, "niou" means to bloom radiantly, and "ran" is an auxiliary conjecturing the cause: "why do they bloom so?" The poem pauses here.
In the fourth line, "motehayasu" means to praise and make much of.
The last line, "kimi mo konaku ni," means "though you do not come," in inversion with the third line, giving at the end the loneliness of one whose awaited lover does not come.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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