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.
- Meaning
- The one who came to see you but once—might he return? Cherry blossoms, I will wait and watch for today; if he does not come, then you may fall away.
- Commentary
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Book II, Spring Poems (Part Two)
After an acquaintance came to visit and then left, this poem was composed and sent attached to blossoms.
Though it laments the scattering of cherry blossoms, perhaps there was also a hope that the visitor might return once more.
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
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- Who knows, I wonder, where the dwelling of the wind that scatters blossoms lies? Tell it to me— I will go and reproach it.
- 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.
- Shut up within, unaware where spring has gone, all the while— the blossoms I had long awaited have already faded away.
- More fleeting still than when upon the branch, the blossoms fell; so even as they drift below, they become but foam upon the water.