Iro naraba utsuru bakari mo sometemashi omou kokoro o shiru hito no nasa - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

色ならば移るばかりも染めてまし
思ふ心を知る人のなさ

Roma-ji: Iro naraba utsuru bakari mo sometemashi omou kokoro o shiru hito no nasa
English Translation: If it were a hue,
I would dye her deep enough
for it to pass on;
alas, the heart that loves
has no one who knows it so.
Meaning: If my love were a color, I would dye her deep enough for it to pass onto her; yet there is no one who knows the heart that loves.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 623

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poem says that if the heart that loves were a color, the poet would dye the beloved deep enough for it to pass onto her, yet there is no one who knows that heart. It expresses the frustration of a love that cannot be seen, wishing that the heart were a visible color that could be dyed into the other. Where the two preceding poems sang of love showing in one's color, this poem laments a heart that does not show, a reversal turning on the word "color."
The author, Ki no Tsurayuki, was the leading compiler of the Kokinshū, wrote its kana preface and the Tosa Diary, and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.
The final line of the main text reads "shiru hito no nasa," which does not match "shiru hito no naki" in the reading line. Here the main text is followed.

First line, "iro naraba," means "if it were a color," with "ba" after the irrealis form expressing supposition. It takes up the "color" of the second line of the preceding poem, 622, "iro ni idenikeri."
Second line, "utsuru bakari mo," means "enough to pass onto her," speaking of a dye passing into another thing.
Third line, "sometemashi," means "I would dye her," with "mashi" a counterfactual auxiliary. The poem breaks after this third line. "Utsuru" and "some" are words associated with "iro," color.
Fourth line, "omou kokoro o," means "the heart that loves," singing of the loving heart itself, as do the second line of 633 and the fourth line of 634, "omou kokoro no."
Final line, "shiru hito no nasa," means "there is no one who knows it," ending on a noun formed from the adjective "nashi" with the suffix "sa," with a note of lament.
Author: Ki no Tsurayuki
Source: Shui Wakashu
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