Kurete yuku aki no katami ni oku mono wa waga motoyui no shimo ni zo arikeru - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

暮れてゆく秋の形見に置くものは
我が元結の霜にぞありける

Roma-ji: Kurete yuku aki no katami ni oku mono wa waga motoyui no shimo ni zo arikeru
English Translation: What the autumn leaves,
as it darkens and departs,
for a keepsake here,
is but frost that now lies white
on the cord that binds my hair.
Meaning: What departing autumn leaves behind as a keepsake turns out to be the frost on the cord that binds my hair, my whitening hair.
Commentary: Book Three Autumn Poems 214

Headnote: "In reply to a letter from Shigeyuki at the end of autumn"
What departing autumn leaves behind as a keepsake turns out to be the frost on the cord that binds the poet's hair, that is, his white hair. Overlaying the end of autumn with his own aging, the poem expresses deep feeling for the passing season and the passing years. According to the headnote, it was composed in reply to a letter from Minamoto no Shigeyuki in late autumn. Shigeyuki was a poet on close terms with Kanemori.
Taira no Kanemori, of a Taira line descended from Emperor Kōkō, was a poet of the mid-Heian period. He is known for his performance at the palace poetry contest of the fourth year of Tentoku and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "kurete yuku," means "drawing to its close," referring to the end of autumn.
Second line, "aki no katami ni," means "as autumn's keepsake." Taking up the preceding poem's autumn that will not stop but passes, it sings of what remains after it has gone.
Third line, "oku mono wa," means "what it leaves behind," with "oku" associated with frost settling.
Fourth line, "waga motoyui no," means "of the cord binding my hair," referring to where the hair is tied.
Final line, "shimo ni zo arikeru," means "is the frost," likening white hair to frost, with "zo" resolved by the attributive "keru." Whereas 137 at the head of the book welcomed autumn with its first wind blowing on a summer robe, this poem at the end sees autumn off with frost on the hair cord, so that the beginning and end of autumn answer each other through what the poet wears.
Author: Taira no Kanemori
Source: Shui Wakashu
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