人はいさ心もしらずふるさとは
花ぞ昔のかににほひける
花ぞ昔のかににほひける
- Roma-ji
-
Hito wa isa kokoro mo shirazu furusato wa
hana zo mukashi no ka ni nioikeru - English Translation
-
You—who knows?
your heart I do not know;
as for this old home,
only the blossoms, as of old,
still give forth their scent.
- Meaning
- You may speak as you will, for I do not know your heart; yet in this familiar old lodging, it is only the plum blossoms that know my heart well, greeting me with the same fragrance as in former days.
- Commentary
-
Spring Songs, Book One
Having gone, after a long time, to the house where he used to stay whenever he went on pilgrimage to Hase Kannon,
the master of the house said, “Though the lodging is properly here as before,” and so the poet broke off a branch of the plum blossoms planted there and composed this poem.
In response to the host’s complaint that he had not stayed for a long time, the poet entrusts his own heart to nature, saying that the plum blossoms welcome him with the same heart as in the past.
In reply to the poem, the host answered:
“Even the blossoms bloom with the same heart—
would that you might know the heart of the one who planted them.”
According to this answering poem, since even the plum blossoms remain of the same heart, he deftly replies that the heart of the one who planted them is the same as well.
- Author
- Ki no Tsurayuki
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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Haru no yo no yami wa ayanashi ume no hana
iro koso miene ka ya wa kakururu - Next Poem
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Haru goto ni nagaruru kawa o hana to mite
orarenu mizu ni sode ya nureramu