Samazama ni kokoro zo tomaru Miyagino no hana no iroiro mushi no koegoe - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

さまざまに心ぞとまる宮城野の
花の色々虫の声々

Roma-ji: Samazama ni kokoro zo tomaru Miyagino no hana no iroiro mushi no koegoe
English Translation: In so many ways
my heart is held and lingers:
at Miyagino
the hues upon hues of flowers,
the voices upon voices of insects
Meaning: In so many ways my heart is held fast at Miyagino: by the many colors of its flowers and the many voices of its insects.
Commentary: Book Four Autumn Poems I 256

Headnote: "Composed when presenting a hundred-poem sequence in the reign of Emperor Horikawa"
Composed for the Horikawa Hundred-Poem Sequence. At Miyagino, the poet's heart is held fast in many ways by the many colors of the flowers and the many voices of the insects calling there. Setting the reduplicated words "iroiro" and "koegoe" side by side in parallel, he conveys in a light rhythm the richness of autumn fields brimming with the colors of flowers for the eye and the voices of insects for the ear.
The author, "Minamoto no Toshiyori Ason," was the son of Major Counselor Minamoto no Tsunenobu. The central poet of Emperor Horikawa's poetry circle, he compiled the Kin'yō Wakashū at the command of Retired Emperor Shirakawa and wrote the treatise Toshiyori Zuinō. A poem of his is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
Following 249 of this book, it again names Miyagino, and like Izumi Shikibu's poem 247, which set bush clover and the evening cicada's voice side by side, it pairs what is seen with what is heard.

First line, "samazama ni": "in many ways," anticipating "iroiro" in the fourth line and "koegoe" in the fifth. Poem 261 of this book opens with "samazama no."
Second line, "kokoro zo tomaru": "zo" closes with the attributive "tomaru": "my heart is held." The poem pauses here and is inverted with the lines that follow. "Yado ni tomaru" in the next poem, 257, also uses "tomaru."
Third line, "Miyagino no": Miyagino is a poetic place in Michinoku famed for bush clover, also named in 249 of this book.
Fourth line, "hana no iroiro": "the many colors of the flowers," the scene for the eye.
Fifth line, "mushi no koegoe": ends on a noun, "the many voices of the insects." Parallel to the fourth line, it closes by pairing color and voice, sight and sound.
Author: Minamoto no Toshiyori
Source: Senzai Wakashu
Prev Poem: Yūsareba kaya ga shigemi ni nakikawasu mushi no ne o sae waketsutsu zo yuku
Next Poem: Aki kureba yado ni tomaru o tabine nite nobe koso tsune no sumika narikere