Koisomeshi hito wa kaku koso tsurenakere waga namida shimo iro kawaruran - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

恋ひ初めし人はかくこそつれなけれ
我が涙しも色変はるらん

Roma-ji: Koisomeshi hito wa kaku koso tsurenakere waga namida shimo iro kawaruran
English Translation: The one I first loved
remains as cold as ever,
so why is it then
that these tears of mine alone
should change into another hue?
Meaning: The one I began to love stays as cold as this, unchanged, so why is it that only my tears change color?
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 706

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The one I began to love remains as cold as this, she says, so why is it only my tears that change their color? Contrasting her lover's unchanging heart with her own tears that turn crimson from grief, she expresses a love that deepens without reward. Crimson tears, also called tears of blood, are an expression of profound sorrow.
The author, "Daini of the Nijō Grand Empress Dowager," was the daughter of Fujiwara no Michimune. A lady-in-waiting poet, she served Princess Yasuko, the Ikuhōmon'in, daughter of Emperor Shirakawa, and later Princess Reishi, another of his daughters, the Nijō Grand Empress Dowager.
In this book, 721 and 740 also sing of "the color of tears," and 745 of "the color of sleeves." The last line of the preceding poem, "omoisomeshika," and the first line of this poem, "koisomeshi," share the word "some," "to begin."

First line, "koisomeshi": "the one I began to love." Like "omoisomeshika" in the last line of the preceding poem, it sings of love's beginning.
Second line, "hito wa kaku koso": "koso" is an emphatic particle binding with "tsurenakere" in the third line.
Third line, "tsurenakere": the perfective form of the adjective "tsurenashi," concluding the "koso" of the second line. Because the sentence runs on after this koso construction, it takes an adversative sense, "though so cold."
Fourth line, "waga namida shimo": "shimo" is an emphatic particle, "my tears, of all things." It sets her tears against her lover's unchanging heart.
Fifth line, "iro kawaruran": "ran" is the auxiliary of conjecture on causes, "why should they change color?" It speaks of tears turning crimson. Poems 721 and 740 of this book also sing of "the color of tears."
Author: Daini
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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