classic waka stream

白菊の変はらぬ色も頼まれず
うつろはでやむ秋しなければ
Roma-ji

Shiragiku no kawaranu iro mo tanomarezu utsurowade yamu aki shi nakereba

English Translation
White chrysanthemums,
even their unchanging hue
I cannot rely on,
for there is no autumn that
ends without their color fading
Meaning
I cannot rely even on the unchanging color of the white chrysanthemums, for there is no autumn that ends without their color fading.
Commentary
Book Eleven Variant Poems 691

Not even the color of the white chrysanthemum, unchanged for now, can be relied on, for there is no autumn that ends without colors fading. Overlaying the white chrysanthemum, whose color changes when touched by frost, with a lover's heart that will surely change one day, the poem expresses anxiety about love's future, with aki, autumn, carrying the sense of aki, weariness of love.
This poem is found only in a variant manuscript line of the anthology; in the variant order it is placed after 394 in Book Seven. Poems fearing and resenting a lover's changing heart stand around it.
The author, Kinzane, is Fujiwara no Kinzane, a son of the Provisional Major Counselor Fujiwara no Sanesue, who himself became Provisional Major Counselor. He was the father of Taikenmon'in, Shōshi.

First line, 'shiragiku no', means of the white chrysanthemum.
Second line, 'kawaranu iro mo', means even its unchanging color, a figure for a constant heart.
Third line, 'tanomarezu', means I cannot rely on it, the potential ru with the negative zu; the poem breaks after the third line.
Fourth line, 'utsurowade yamu', means ending without fading, using the negative particle de. The fading of color is overlaid with the changing of a heart.
Final line, 'aki shi nakereba', means since there is no autumn, the particle shi adding emphasis. Aki, autumn, echoes aki, growing weary of love. It is inverted with the lines before.
Author
Fujiwara no Kinzane
Source
Kinyo Wakashu
Prev Poem
Arifuru mo ukiyo narikeri nagakaranu hito no kokoro o inochi to mogana
Next Poem
Yoi no ma ni honoka ni hito o mikazuki no akade irinishi kage zo koishiki