Shut up within,
unaware where spring has gone,
all the while—
the blossoms I had long awaited
have already faded away.

Meaning

Shut up indoors, without even knowing where spring has gone, the cherry blossoms I had so long awaited have already faded away.

Commentary

Book II, Spring Poems (Part Two)

When the poet fell ill and stayed indoors with blinds lowered to avoid the wind, this poem was composed upon seeing a plucked branch of cherry blossoms about to scatter.

The blossoms must have been something the poet had long looked forward to. Seeing a single branch indoors, the poet realizes with regret that the full bloom outside has passed unseen and is already fading.

Author

Fujiwara no Yoruka

Source

Kokin Wakashu

Other

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.
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.
More fleeting still than when upon the branch, the blossoms fell; so even as they drift below, they become but foam upon the water.
If it must be so, would it not be better not to bloom at all, cherry blossoms? Even I who gaze cannot keep a tranquil heart.

Shut up within, unaware where spring has gone, all the while— the blossoms I had long awaited have already faded away.

Shut up within,
unaware where spring has gone,
all the while—
the blossoms I had long awaited
have already faded away.