Shiratsuyu wa wakitemo okaji ominaeshi kokoro kara ni ya iro no somuramu - Murasaki Shikibu Nikki(English Translation & Meaning)

白露は分きても置かじ女郎花
心からにや色の染むらむ

Roma-ji: Shiratsuyu wa wakitemo okaji ominaeshi kokoro kara ni ya iro no somuramu
English Translation: The silver dew
would not choose where it settles;
the maidenflower—
is it by its own heart
that it is dyed in such color?
Meaning: Surely the white dew does not choose where to settle. Is it not by its own heart that the maidenflower is dyed in such lovely color?
Commentary: 3 The Exchange over the Maidenflower

In the early autumn of Kankō 5 (1008), Empress Shōshi, expecting a child, had withdrawn to her family residence, Fujiwara no Michinaga's Tsuchimikado mansion. One morning, as Murasaki Shikibu looked out from her room by the doorway of the gallery, a faint mist hung in the air and the morning dew had not yet fallen, yet Michinaga was already walking the garden, summoning his guards to clear the garden stream. He had a spray of maidenflower, blooming splendidly south of the bridge, broken off, and with it in hand he peered over the top of her curtain screen. Beside his imposing figure, Murasaki was painfully aware of her own just-awakened face and felt ashamed.
Murasaki Shikibu was the daughter of Fujiwara no Tametoki and served as a lady-in-waiting to Empress Shōshi, consort of Emperor Ichijō. Fujiwara no Michinaga, called simply "the Lord," was Shōshi's father and, as Minister of the Left, stood at the summit of the court.
When Murasaki promptly offered "Ominaeshi sakari no iro o miru kara ni tsuyu no wakikeru mi koso shirarure," Michinaga smiled, exclaimed "My, how quick!" and called for an inkstone to write this reply.
Brushing aside her lament and answering that beauty depends on one's own heart, the reply reveals the familiar bond between lord and lady-in-waiting, and this morning exchange is often discussed alongside their later exchanges.
It was included in the Miscellaneous section of the Shin Kokin Wakashū as the reply to Murasaki Shikibu's poem.

The opening lines, "the silver dew would not choose where it settles," take up Murasaki's "the dew has set me apart" and deny it outright, using an auxiliary of negative conjecture. The third line, "maidenflower," likewise answers her opening word.
The lower verses ask whether the maidenflower is dyed so beautifully by its own heart, a question shaped by an interrogative particle and an auxiliary of present conjecture. Catching each of her words in turn, dew, setting apart, maidenflower and color, the reply gently encourages her: whether one grows beautiful depends on one's own heart.
Author: Fujiwara no Michinaga
Source: Murasaki Shikibu Nikki
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