“Come Autumn you’d see –
Hope you’d then remember me.”
So you said and sowed.
Now the pinks have come blooming
In our orchard; I’m all alone….
(Vol.3-464)

This poem is an elegy Yakamochi sends to a wife of his who deceased after a short illness. She must have known her own fate already in the springtime that year in that she would not be able to last long, and sowed seeds of pinks, and pled Yakamochi to think about her when the flowers come blooming in the autumn. And that’s what happened eventually, and he laments and mourns. The flower “pink” in Japanese is Nadeshiko, and written as 石竹（stony bamboo, literally）, but it also has another writing as 撫子 （dear little darling）, and it added to the sorrow he felt.
Incidentally, in today’s Japan, the women’s soccer team representing All Japan in
international games is nicknamed “Nadeshiko Japan”. Such a cute name for such a
strong and yet loveable group of ladies.

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