花よりも人こそあだになりにけれ
いづれをさきに恋ひむとか見し
いづれをさきに恋ひむとか見し
- Roma-ji
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Hana yori mo hito koso ada ni narinikere
izure o saki ni koimu to ka mishi - English Translation
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More than the blossoms,
People have proved more fickle—
So it has become.
Which would I see first to fade,
And then long for in my heart?
- Meaning
- More than the blossoms, people themselves have proven more fleeting. Who could have thought we would lose a beloved person before the flowers and then long for them?
- Commentary
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109. People Are More Fickle
A certain man composed this poem and sent it to a friend who had lost his beloved wife.
The poem expresses the thought that he could never have imagined that a beloved person would be lost even before the cherry blossoms scatter.
By placing side by side the death of a person and the scattering blossoms, the poem reveals the impermanence of life in this world.
It is included in the "Laments" section of the Kokinshū as a poem by Ki no Mochiyuki.
- Source
- Ise Monogatari
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