If one could command
the wind that blows as it will,
then I would say:
pass by this single tree,
and leave it untouched.
- Meaning
-
If it were possible to give orders to the wind that scatters the blossoms, I would tell it to pass by this one tree and leave it untouched.
- Commentary
-
Book II, Spring Poems (Part Two)
Though knowing it is futile, the poet cannot help but wish to ask the blowing wind to spare at least this one tree—revealing a heart that longs to resist what cannot be controlled.
- Author
-
Unknown Poet
- Source
-
Kokin Wakashu
- Other
-
-
Though every spring
the blossoms reach their height,
as they always will,
to see them in full bloom—
that depends upon my life.
-
If, like the blossoms,
the world were ever constant,
as they return each year,
then even what has passed away
might come again once more.
-
The one I awaited
does not come—so,
for that reason,
the blossom where the warbler perched
I have broken off.
-
Though blossoms that bloom
are of many kinds,
all are but fleeting,
who is there that can utterly
resent the coming of spring?