たれこめて春のゆくへもしらぬまに
まちし桜もうつろひにけり
まちし桜もうつろひにけり
- Roma-ji
-
Tarekomete haru no yukue mo shiranu ma ni
machishi sakura mo utsuroinikeri - English Translation
-
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.