Yo o samumi kamo no hagai ni oku shimo no tatoi kenu to mo iro ni idemeya

夜を寒み鴨の羽交ひに置く霜の
たとひ消ぬとも色に出でめや

Roma-ji: Yo o samumi kamo no hagai ni oku shimo no tatoi kenu to mo iro ni idemeya
English Translation: So cold is the night,
like frost that settles where
the wild duck's wings fold;
though I should vanish quite,
would I let my color show?
Meaning: Like the frost that settles where the wild duck's wings fold on this cold night, though I should vanish away, would I let my love show? Never.
Commentary: Love Poems 429

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Among poems on love"
Like frost settling where the duck's wings overlap on a cold night, the poet may vanish, yet he resolves never to let his love show outwardly; it is a firm vow of hidden love.
According to the notes in the base text, the Teika text differs in line 5. Here the base text is followed.

Line 1 means "since the night is cold," o ... mi expressing cause.
Line 2 means "where the duck's wings fold over its back," continuing waterside birds after the plover of the preceding poem.
Line 3 means "like the frost that settles," leading to "vanish"; it is the same as line 3 of 416.
Line 4 means "though I should vanish," overlaid with the ending of life.
Line 5: ya is rhetorical, "would I let it show? never."
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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