To whom but you
should I show these plum blossoms—
their color and scent;
one who knows both the color and scent
is the one who knows them.
- Meaning
- To whom but you should I show these plum blossoms? Only one who truly knows their color and their fragrance can understand them.
- Commentary
-
Spring Songs, Book One
A poem sent along when the poet broke off plum blossoms and presented them as a gift.
It is a poem meaning that you alone are the one who understands the beauty of the plum blossoms, both their color and their fragrance.
- Author
- Ki no Tomonori
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
-
- The plum blossoms said to be sewn on the warbler’s hat— I will break them off and set them in my hair, thinking they may hide my age.
- Only from afar had I felt their deep beauty— these plum blossoms; their color I never tire of I knew only when I broke them off.
- In spring, when plum blossoms give forth their scent, Mount Kurabu— though I crossed it in the dark of night, clearly, there they were, I knew.
- On a moonlit night, I could not tell which was which— plum blossoms, so by seeking out their scent, I came to know the way.