花見れば心さへにぞうつりける
いろにはいでじ人もこそしれ
いろにはいでじ人もこそしれ
- Roma-ji
-
Hana mireba kokoro sae ni zo utsurikeru
iro ni wa ideji hito mo koso shire - English Translation
-
Seeing the blossoms,
even my heart
has changed its hue;
yet I shall not show it in my face,
lest others come to know.
- Meaning
- Seeing the blossoms fade and change their color, even my own heart has altered; yet I will not let it show, lest others perceive my inconstancy.
- Commentary
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Book II, Spring Poems (Part Two)
A poem composed upon seeing blossoms beginning to scatter.
As blossoms quickly reveal their change in color when they begin to fall, so too the heart may change. Yet the poet resolves not to let this be seen by others, lest such inconstancy be judged as frivolous.
- Author
- Oshikochi no Mitsune
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
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- Spring haze appears in many varied hues— it must be so, because the blossoms’ colors show through the veiled mountains.
- Though distant lie the springtime hills veiled in rising haze, the wind that comes to me bears the scent of blossoms.
- Each time the warbler sang in the fields, I went to see; upon the fading blossoms, the wind was blowing still.
- Blame, with your cry, the wind that blows— O warbler; for have I so much as laid a hand upon the blossoms?