Iro kaete hitori nokoreru tokiwagi wa itsu o matsu to ka hito wa miruran

色変へて独り残れるときは木は
いつをまつとか人は見るらん

Roma-ji: Iro kaete hitori nokoreru tokiwagi wa itsu o matsu to ka hito wa miruran
English Translation: When all have changed hue,
left alone, an evergreen
that keeps its color,
waiting, a pine, for what time,
I wonder, do people think?
Meaning: When all the others have changed the color of their robes, how do people see me, left alone like an evergreen, unchanged: as a pine waiting for what day?
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 735

Headnote: "Reply"
This is Fujiwara no Tamenari's reply. While his brothers have changed their robes to ink-black and taken vows, he alone remains in lay dress, and likening himself to an evergreen pine, he wonders when people imagine he is waiting to take vows. Taking up tokiwa from the preceding poem, he compares himself to an unchanging evergreen. Tamenari too later took vows, under the name Jakunen.

First line, “iro kaete”: changing the color of one's robes, his brothers having put on black and renounced the world.
Second line, “hitori nokoreru”: left behind alone, Tamenari himself, not yet ordained.
Third line, “tokiwagi wa”: tokiwa is a pivot word joining the place Tokiwa and the evergreen tree, taking up tokiwa in the fourth line of the preceding poem.
Fourth line, “itsu o matsu to ka”: matsu is a pivot word joining waiting and the pine.
Fifth line, “hito wa miruran”: ran is conjecture about the present, how do people see it?
Author: Fujiwara no Tamenari
Source: Sankashu
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