Kuchinashi no sono ni ya waga mi irinikemu omou koto o mo iwade yaminuru - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

くちなしの園にや我が身入りにけん
思ふことをも言はでやみぬる

Roma-ji: Kuchinashi no sono ni ya waga mi irinikemu omou koto o mo iwade yaminuru
English Translation: Have I come to dwell
in a garden of gardenias,
those with no mouths,
that I end with all my thoughts
left forever unspoken?
Meaning: Have I entered the garden of the gardenia, the "mouthless" flower? For I come to my end without ever voicing what lies in my heart.
Commentary: Book Nine Poems of Lament 549

Headnote: "When I was ill and had grown very weak, I took off a robe of kerria yellow, as some sort of keepsake, and sent it to that woman. Another account says that after his death he appeared in the woman's dream and recited this"
When the poet lay ill and had grown very weak, he took off a robe of kerria yellow, perhaps meant as a keepsake, and sent it to a certain woman; another account says that after his death he appeared in her dream and recited this poem. Have I entered the garden of the gardenia, the "mouthless" one, he asks, since I end without saying what I feel? Because kerria yellow is dyed with gardenia seeds, he lets the color of the robe echo "mouthless," expressing his regret at dying without putting his love for her into words.
The author, "Fujiwara no Michinobu Ason," was the son of Chancellor Fujiwara no Tamemitsu. He rose to Middle Captain of the Left Palace Guards but died in 994 at only twenty-three. He is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals of the Middle Ages and has a poem in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
The next poem, 550, was composed by Fujiwara no Yoritaka on the morning after Michinobu's funeral, so that a poem mourning his death follows Michinobu's own.

First line, "kuchinashi no": a pivot word joining the gardenia, source of the kerria-yellow dye, with "mouthless," that is, saying nothing. It connects with the kerria-yellow robe of the headnote.
Second line, "sono ni ya waga mi": the interrogative "ya" closes with the attributive "kemu" in the third line, "has my body entered the garden?"
Third line, "irinikemu": "ni" is the continuative of the perfective "nu" and "kemu" the past conjectural, "have I entered?" The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "omou koto o mo": "even what I think in my heart," his love for the woman.
Fifth line, "iwade yaminuru": "de" is a negative connective, "yami" means to end, and "nuru" is the attributive of the perfective "nu," "I end without speaking." Ending on the attributive leaves a lingering mood and answers "kuchinashi" in the first line.
Author: Fujiwara no Michinobu
Source: Senzai Wakashu
Prev Poem: Oshiki kana katami ni kitaru fujigoromo tada kono koro ni kuchihatenu beshi
Next Poem: Omoikane kinō no sora o nagamureba sore ka to miyuru kumo dani mo nashi