"The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft / And gathering swallows twitter in the skies"

A pome by Matsuo Bashô:

Wild chrysanthemums
forgotten in the heat
of fringed pinks.

(nadeshiko no / atsusa wasururu / nogiku ka na)

Although the fringed pinks (a particularly pretty type of wild carnation) are one of the canonical seven flowers of autumn, they start blooming in summer -- 'mums, on the other hand, are fully autumnal. This was written in summer for a painting of light-yellow chrysanthemums, so he's looking at autumn flowers and longing for cool weather. The hot pink color of the pinks may also play into the image.

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: HAIKU TRANSLATION

---L.

Subject quote from "Ode to Autumn," John Keats.