まつ人もこぬ物ゆゑにうぐひすの
なきつける花ををりてけるかな
なきつける花ををりてけるかな
- Roma-ji
-
Matsu hito mo konu mono yue ni uguisu no
nakitsukeru hana o oritekeru kana - English Translation
-
The one I awaited
does not come—so,
for that reason,
the blossom where the warbler perched
I have broken off.
- Meaning
- Since the one I was waiting for has not come, I have broken off the blossom on which the warbler had perched.
- Commentary
-
Book II, Spring Poems (Part Two)
A woman, likely in a romantic relationship, had been waiting for her lover to visit, but he did not come. The branch where the warbler perched is something to be admired, yet in her frustration she breaks it off.
According to some annotations, it is said to be a poem by the Empress Somedono, who was waiting for Ariwara no Narihira.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
-
- 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.
- If one could command the wind that blows as it will, then I would say: pass by this single tree, and leave it untouched.
- Though blossoms that bloom are of many kinds, all are but fleeting, who is there that can utterly resent the coming of spring?
- Spring haze appears in many varied hues— it must be so, because the blossoms’ colors show through the veiled mountains.