Ika nareba momiji ni mo mada akanaku ni aki hatenu to wa kyō o iuran - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

いかなれば紅葉にもまだ飽かなくに
秋果てぬとは今日を言ふらん

Roma-ji: Ika nareba momiji ni mo mada akanaku ni aki hatenu to wa kyō o iuran
English Translation: For what reason, then,
when I've not yet had my fill
of the autumn leaves,
do they say that autumn ends,
and that today is the day?
Meaning: Why is it that, though I have not yet had my fill of the autumn leaves, people say that today is the day autumn ends?
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Autumn Poems 1136

Headnote: "On the last day of the ninth month, men and women go out to the fields to enjoy themselves and view the autumn leaves"
The poet asks why people say that today is the day autumn ends, when he has not yet had his fill of the autumn leaves. The headnote shows it depicts a scene on the last day of the ninth month, when men and women went out into the fields to enjoy themselves and view the autumn leaves. On the day that ends autumn by the calendar, before leaves that are still beautiful, he grieves at autumn's departure.
The next poem, 1137, is a poem of the first day of the tenth month, so poems of autumn's last day and winter's first day stand side by side, both grieving at the passing of autumn.
The author, written as "Minamoto no Shitagō," is Minamoto no Shitagau. Of the Saga Genji line, he took part, as one of the Five Men of the Pear Chamber, in compiling the Gosenshū and reading the Man'yōshū, and he compiled the dictionary Wamyō Ruijushō. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "ika nareba," means "for what reason."
Second line, "momiji ni mo mada," means "with the autumn leaves, not yet."
Third line, "akanaku ni," means "though I have not had my fill," with "nakuni," a negative form followed by "ni," expressing concession.
Fourth line, "aki hatenu to wa," means "that autumn has ended," with "nu" a perfective auxiliary.
Final line, "kyō o iuran," means "do they say it of today," with "ran" an auxiliary conjecturing a cause.
Author: Minamoto no Shitagō
Source: Shui Wakashu
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