Yoso ni nomi mite ya wa koimu kurenai no suetsumu hana no iro ni idezu wa - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

よそにのみ見てやは恋ひむ紅の
末摘む花の色に出でずは

Roma-ji: Yoso ni nomi mite ya wa koimu kurenai no suetsumu hana no iro ni idezu wa
English Translation: Only from afar
how could I go on loving,
if, like the crimson
of the safflower's blossoms,
I never let my love show?
Meaning: How could I go on loving her only from afar, if I never let my love show, like the crimson of the safflower?
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 632

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem asks how the poet could go on loving only from afar, if he never let his love show like the crimson of the safflower. Through the vivid color of the safflower, it expresses a heart that cannot help but show its love. It takes up "yoso ni" from the preceding poem, 631, and repeats the motif of love showing in one's color that runs from 622.

First line, "yoso ni nomi," means "only from afar," sharing the word "yoso" with the fourth line of the preceding poem, 631, "yoso ni nakitsutsu."
Second line, "mite ya wa koimu," means "how could I go on loving, only looking," with the binding particle "ya wa" rhetorical and resolved by the attributive "mu." The poem breaks after this second line.
Third line, "kurenai no," means "of crimson."
Fourth line, "suetsumu hana no," means "of the safflower," the flower whose blossoms at the tips of the stems are picked to make crimson dye. Up to here the lines lead into "iro," color, in the final line.
Final line, "iro ni idezu wa," means "if I do not let it show," with "zu wa" a negative supposition. It returns in inverted order to the second line and is the same line as the final line of 634, "iro ni idezu wa."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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