En’yū also indulges in some elaborate wordplay here, using the phrase iFanu iro 言はぬ色 (literally ‘colours which do not speak’), which I’ve translated as ‘wordless hues’. By association, this is a subtle reference to kutinasi 梔子iro: a yellowish-orange shade which globeflowers could be, given that kutinasi could also be read as meaning kuti nasi ‘without a mouth’.

The message in the poem is: ‘We are not at court, so there’s no one to spread rumours (unless you do it…)’