Ominaeshi karenishi nobe ni sumu hito wa mazu saku hana o matade to mo mizu - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

女郎花枯れにし野辺に住む人は
まづ咲く花をまたでとも見ず

Roma-ji: Ominaeshi karenishi nobe ni sumu hito wa mazu saku hana o matade to mo mizu
English Translation: One who dwells upon
the moor where the maidenflowers
have withered away
does not even see the first
blooms as flowers I'd not await
Meaning: I who live on a moor where the maidenflowers have withered do not even look upon these first-blooming flowers as ones I had not waited for.
Commentary: Book Twenty Congratulatory Poems 1401

Headnote: "Around the Seventh Month, when the mother of the Minister of the Left had died and he was in mourning, the Empress broke off bush clover flowers and sent them to him."
The poet says that one who dwells on a moor where the maidenflowers have withered does not even see the first blossoms as having bloomed unawaited. Likening himself in mourning for his wife to one living on a moor of withered maidenflowers, he seems to lament that he cannot even turn his heart to the gift of bush clover, though the meaning of the lower verse is hard to construe and its reading is not settled.
According to the headnote, around the Seventh Month, when the mother of the Minister of the Left Fujiwara no Saneyori, that is, the poet's wife, had died and he was in mourning, the Empress broke off bush clover and sent it to him. The Empress seems to be Fujiwara no Onshi, the poet's sister and Emperor Daigo's empress.
The poet, "the Grand Minister," is Fujiwara no Tadahira. The fourth son of Fujiwara no Mototsune, he served as Regent, Chancellor and Grand Minister, and was posthumously named Teishinkō. The Ogura Hyakunin Isshu includes his poem "Ogurayama mine no momijiba kokoro araba."

The first line, "Ominaeshi," is the maidenflower of the autumn fields, likened to a woman, here overlaid with his late wife.
The second line, "karenishi nobe ni," means "on the moor where they have withered."
The third line, "sumu hito wa," means "one who dwells," the poet himself.
The fourth line, "mazu saku hana o," means "the flowers that bloom first," apparently the bush clover that heralds autumn.
The last line, "matade to mo mizu," seems to mean "does not even see them as unawaited," with "de" a negative conjunctive. The sounds of "mazu" in the fourth line and "mata" echo each other.
Author: Fujiwara no Tadahira
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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