Cutting iris leaves,
You must have lost your way there
In the marshy fields;
While I went out to the plain
To hunt—how wretched it was.

Meaning

While cutting iris leaves for the festival, you must have wandered in the marsh; at the same time I went out upon the plain to hunt, and how wretched it was.

Commentary

52. Cutting Iris Leaves

A certain man received from someone rice dumplings, beautifully bound and adorned with five-colored cords, and in reply he sent a pheasant taken in the hunt.
This poem was attached to the pheasant he sent in return.

On the fifth day of the fifth month, at the Boys’ Festival, it was customary to send and eat rice dumplings, to go hunting in the fields and mountains, and to gather medicinal herbs to make and send as charms.
In expressing thanks for the decorated dumplings he had received, he composed this poem with a sense of appreciation and in return sent the pheasant as a token of gratitude.

Source

Ise Monogatari

Other

Flowing water on, Passing years of mortal life, And the falling flowers— Which of these has ever heard The word that bids it to wait?
Having planted it, If there were no autumn time, Would it fail to bloom? Though the flowers may fall away, Will even the roots wither?
Why does the cock crow? Though none knows of our secret, And I love unseen, Still it is the depth of night— How can dawn have come so soon?
Trusting to a dream That never reaches its end, Along that dream path— Upon my waiting sleeve Does heaven’s dew fall and rest?

Cutting iris leaves, You must have lost your way there In the marshy fields; While I went out to the plain To hunt—how wretched it was.

Cutting iris leaves,
You must have lost your way there
In the marshy fields;
While I went out to the plain
To hunt—how wretched it was.