Kiku yori mo hito no kokoro wa hatsushimo no okiaezu iro no kawaru narikeri

菊よりも人の心は初霜の
置きあへず色の変はるなりけり

Roma-ji: Kiku yori mo hito no kokoro wa hatsushimo no okiaezu iro no kawaru narikeri
English Translation: More than chrysanthemums,
the heart of one you love,
before the first frost
has even settled fully,
changes in its color.
Meaning: More quickly than the chrysanthemums, a lover's heart changes color, before the first frost has even fully settled.
Commentary: Love Poems 534

Headnote: "Love, on chrysanthemums"
A lover's heart, more than the chrysanthemum that changes color with the frost, turns even before the first frost has fully settled; the poet laments the beloved's change of heart.
Line 1 of the base text is irregular in its writing; following the title, it is given here as kiku yori mo. According to the notes in the base text, the Ruijū text reads line 1 as hana yori mo and differs in line 4. The base text glosses line 4 with aenu.

Line 1 means "more than the chrysanthemum," which was thought to change color with frost.
Line 2 means "a person's heart," that of the beloved.
Line 3 means "of the first frost."
Line 4 means "before it fully settles, its color," with an extra syllable.
Line 5 means "so it changes, I see," keri expressing realization. Against the plea not to set the heart apart in the preceding poem, it laments a change of heart.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
Prev Poem: Nadeshiko no hana ni okiiru asatsuyu no tamasaka ni dani kokoro hedatsu na
Next Poem: Kiekaeri aru ka naki ka ni mono zo omou utsurou aki no hana no ue no shimo