Fuku kaze wa iro mo mienedo fuyu kureba hitori nuru yo no mi ni zo shimikeru - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

吹く風は色も見えねど冬来れば
ひとりぬる夜の身にぞしみける

Roma-ji: Fuku kaze wa iro mo mienedo fuyu kureba hitori nuru yo no mi ni zo shimikeru
English Translation: The blowing wind
has no color to be seen,
yet when winter comes
on nights of sleeping alone
it soaks deep into my flesh
Meaning: The blowing wind has no color to be seen, yet when winter comes it pierces deep into my body on nights when I sleep alone.
Commentary: Book Eight Winter Poems 449

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet says that the blowing wind has no color to be seen, yet when winter comes it pierces deep into the body on nights spent alone. In the cold of an invisible wind, the poem overlays the loneliness of sleeping alone that sinks into one's very being.
Following 446 and 447 in this book, it sings of the desolation of sleeping alone in winter.
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, "Fuku kaze wa," means "the blowing wind."
The second line, "iro mo mienedo," means "though no color can be seen," with "do" a concessive particle.
The third line, "fuyu kureba," means "when winter comes," the same line that opens 446 in this book.
The fourth line, "hitori nuru yo no," means "on nights of sleeping alone," using the same words as "hitori nuru" that opens 447.
In the last line, "shimi" means to pierce into the body and, as an associated word with "iro," color, in the second line, echoes "to be dyed." The particle "zo" and the attributive "keru" form a kakarimusubi pattern.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
Prev Poem: Akihatete shigure furinuru ware nareba chiru koto no ha o nani ka uramimu
Next Poem: Akihatete waga mi shigure ni furinureba koto no ha sae ni utsuroinikeri