Momijiba wa chiru ko no moto ni tomarikeri sugiyuku aki ya izuchi naruramu - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

紅葉葉は散る木のもとにとまりけり
過ぎゆく秋やいづちなるらむ

Roma-ji: Momijiba wa chiru ko no moto ni tomarikeri sugiyuku aki ya izuchi naruramu
English Translation: The colored leaves
have stayed beneath the trees
from which they fell—
but the autumn passing on,
where is it bound, I wonder
Meaning: The colored leaves have stayed beneath the trees from which they fell; but where, I wonder, is the passing autumn bound?
Commentary: Book Seven Autumn Poems III 438

Headnote: "Beneath a tree where autumn leaves had fallen and piled up."
The poet says that the autumn leaves stay beneath the trees even after falling, and wonders where departing autumn goes. Contrasting the visible fate of the leaves with the unseen fate of autumn, it laments the passing season.
According to the headnote, it was composed beneath a tree where autumn leaves had fallen and heaped up. Where 409 of this book saw leaves heaped beneath trees as brocade, this one asks the heaped leaves where autumn is going. From this poem on, poems lamenting the end of autumn follow.
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, "Momijiba wa," means "the colored leaves."
The second line, "chiru ko no moto ni," means "beneath the trees from which they fell." It uses the same words as "ko no moto ni," the first line of 409 of this book.
The third line, "tomarikeri," means "they have stayed," and the poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "sugiyuku aki ya," means "the passing autumn," with "ya" an interrogative particle. "Tomari," staying, in the third line is set against "sugiyuku," passing on, in the fourth.
In the last line, "izuchi" means "which way, where," and "ya" in the fourth line with the attributive "ramu" forms a kakarimusubi pattern: "where is it going?"
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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