Uete miru ware wa wasurede adabito ni mazu wasuraruru hana ni zo arikeru - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

植ゑて見る我は忘れであだ人に
まづ忘らるる花にぞありける

Roma-ji: Uete miru ware wa wasurede adabito ni mazu wasuraruru hana ni zo arikeru
English Translation: I who planted it
and gaze on it, never forget;
it is by the faithless
that I am first forgotten—
such a flower I turn out to be
Meaning: I who planted it and watch over it do not forget; rather, I am the flower that the faithless one forgets first of all.
Commentary: Book Nine Love Poems I 552

Headnote: "Reply."
The poet answers that she who planted the grass of forgetting and watches over it does not forget, but is rather the flower that the faithless man forgets first. To the accusation of being a flower of forgetting, she retorts that it is she who is forgotten.
It is a reply to the preceding poem. It answers "wasururu kusa no hana" with "wasuraruru hana," reversing the one who forgets and the one who is forgotten.
The poet is given as "a person called Taifu no Ko," thought to be a lady-in-waiting's name, but who is meant is uncertain.

The first line, "Uete miru," means "planting the grass of forgetting and gazing on it."
In the second line, "de" is a negative conjunctive particle: "I, without forgetting."
The third line, "adabito ni," means "by the fickle, faithless one," pointing to the poet of the preceding poem.
The fourth line, "mazu wasuraruru," means "forgotten first of all," answering "wasururu kusa no" in the fourth line of the preceding poem and exchanging the one who forgets for the one forgotten.
The last line, "hana ni zo arikeru," means "such a flower I turn out to be," the particle "zo" and the attributive "keru" forming a kakarimusubi pattern. It takes up "hana ni ya wa aranu" in the last line of the preceding poem.
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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