Had you not come today,
tomorrow it would have fallen
like falling snow;
and though it did not melt away,
would you still have seen it as blossom?
- Meaning
-
Had you not come today, it would have fallen tomorrow like falling snow; and even if it had not melted away, would you still have seen it as blossom?
- Commentary
-
Episode Seventeen: "They call it faithless"
A person who had not visited for several years came at last to see the cherry blossoms when they were in full bloom.
This poem is a reply to the poem, "They call the cherry blossoms faithless, so they proclaim by name, because they scatter so quickly; yet they have waited without falling for one who comes but rarely in the year," composed by the master of the house for the visitor who had come after so long.
The meaning suggests that merely happening to visit when the blossoms are in bloom does not make one faithful. Because cherry blossoms scatter quickly, people of old said they lacked constancy.
If the master of the house is taken to be a man, the tone may be that of easy banter between familiar companions; but if the master is taken to be a woman, a more somber feeling may be perceived.
The cherry blossoms may stand for the woman herself.
- Source
-
Ise Monogatari
- Other
-