Eda mo naku hito ni oraruru ominaeshi ne o dani nokose ueshi waga tame - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

枝もなく人に折らるる女郎花
ねをだに残せ植ゑし我がため

Roma-ji: Eda mo naku hito ni oraruru ominaeshi ne o dani nokose ueshi waga tame
English Translation: Not a branch is left,
broken off by other hands,
O maiden flower—
leave at least the roots for me,
I who planted you myself
Meaning: Maiden flower, broken off by others until not a branch remains—leave me at least your roots, for I am the one who planted you.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems IV 844

Headnote: "Sent when a woman he knew well had become the subject of gossip with another man."
The poet tells the maiden flower, broken off by others until no branch remains, to leave at least its roots for the one who planted it. Likening the woman rumored to be with another man to a maiden flower, he asks that she at least still lie with him, letting resentment and lingering attachment show.
According to the headnote, the poem was sent when a woman he was close to became the subject of rumors with another man. It is the fifth in the sequence singing of autumn images.
The poet, listed as "Taira no Mareyo Ason," was Taira no Mareyo. He served as Middle Controller of the Right among other posts, and died of injuries suffered when lightning struck the Seiryōden in the eighth year of Enchō (930).

The first line, "Eda mo naku," means "leaving not a branch."
The second line, "hito ni oraruru," means "broken off by others," a figure for the woman yielding to another man.
The third line, "ominaeshi," the maiden flower, one of the seven flowers of autumn, is often sung as a figure for a woman.
The fourth line, "ne o dani nokose," means "leave at least your roots," with "ne" meaning both "root" and "sleeping together." It pleads forcefully in the imperative, and the poem pauses here.
The last line, "ueshi waga tame," means "for me, who planted you," inverted with the fourth line. It carries the feeling that he was the first to find her.
Author: Taira no Mareyo
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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