けふこずはあすは雪とぞふりなまし
消えずはありとも花と見ましや
消えずはありとも花と見ましや
- Roma-ji
-
Kyō kozu wa asu wa yuki to zo furinamashi
kiezu wa ari tomo hana to mimashi ya - English Translation
-
Had you not come today, tomorrow it would have fallen as snow;
Even if it did not vanish, could it be seen as a flower?
- Meaning
- Had you not come today, it would have fallen as snow tomorrow. Even if it had not vanished, could it still be seen as a flower?
- Commentary
-
Spring Songs, Book One
A reply poem to “Why call it fickle, the cherry blossoms? / They, too, waited for one who comes but rarely in a year.”
The woman likened herself, waiting for Narihira, to cherry blossoms; taking up the image of how easily cherry blossoms fall, he replies with irony—had he not come today, who knows what would have become of them by tomorrow.
- Author
- Ariwara no Narihira
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
-
- O cherry blossoms, in a year when spring days abound, will you not let the human heart be sated?
- Why call it fickle, the cherry blossoms? They, too, waited for one who comes but rarely in a year.
- Once they have fallen, though one yearns, there is no avail; So today, if I am to pluck the cherry blossoms, let me pluck them.
- If I were to pluck them, would it not be too painful, these cherry blossoms? Come, let me lodge here and watch them until they fall.