いざさくら我もちりなむひとさかり
ありなば人にうきめ見えなむ
ありなば人にうきめ見えなむ
- Roma-ji
-
Iza sakura ware mo chirinamu hitozakari
arinaba hito ni ukime mienamu - English Translation
-
Come, cherry blossoms—
I too shall fall away;
for once our time
of full bloom has passed,
we will show an unsightly form to others.
- Meaning
- Come, cherry blossoms—let me fall away with you. Once our moment of full bloom has passed, we will show an unseemly sight to others.
- Commentary
-
Book II, Spring Poems (Part Two)
A poem composed on cherry blossoms at Unrin-in.
The poet admires the graceful way in which cherry blossoms fall. The reasoning—that one would rather fade before showing an unsightly form to others—gives the poem a somewhat rational tone, making it easy to sympathize with.
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
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- Where blossoms fall, of cherry trees—in spring, it is as though snow keeps on falling, and will not easily melt away.
- Who knows, I wonder, where the dwelling of the wind that scatters blossoms lies? Tell it to me— I will go and reproach it.
- The one who came to see but once—might he return? cherry blossoms, today I wait and watch; if he comes not, then fall away.
- Shut up within, unaware where spring has gone, all the while— the blossoms I had long awaited have already faded away.