Fumi somete omoikaerishi kurenai no fude no susabi o ikade misekemu - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

ふみ初めて思ひ返りし紅の
筆のすさびをいかで見せけむ

Roma-ji: Fumi somete omoikaerishi kurenai no fude no susabi o ikade misekemu
English Translation: Though I'd begun to write
and then thought better of it,
why did I let you see
those crimson-colored scribblings
from an idle brush
Meaning: Having begun a letter, I thought better of it; why then did I let you see what my idle brush had written in crimson feeling?
Commentary: Book Seven Love Poems I 373

The poet had begun letters and then thought better of them, yet she regrets having let the other see the idle scribblings of her brush, written in a feeling deep as crimson. The poem shows the wavering of a heart that tried to keep its love hidden but could not. The wording admits several readings.
Some manuscripts give the author as 'Kodaishin of the Palace Minister's Household'.
The preceding poem, 372, and this poem form a pair that both sing of susabi and of letters.
The author, Kodaishin of the Hanazono Minister of the Left's Household, was a lady-in-waiting in the house of Minamoto no Arihito, known as the Hanazono Minister of the Left. She is said to have been a daughter of Mitsukiyo, superintendent of the Iwashimizu Hachiman Shrine.

First line, 'fumi somete', is a pivot word in which fumi means both fumi, a letter, and fumi, taking a step, left in kana. Fumi, stepping, is tied to kaeri, turning back, in the second line.
Second line, 'omoikaerishi', means I thought better of it, using the attributive of the past ki.
Third line, 'kurenai no', means crimson, the color of a deep feeling.
Fourth line, 'fude no susabi o', means what my brush wrote idly. Like the final line 'susabi naritomo' of the preceding poem, 372, it sings of susabi.
Final line, 'ikade misekemu', means why did I let you see it, using the past conjecture kemu.
Author: Hanazono no Sadaijin-ke no Kodaishin
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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