As it flits from branch
to branch, by its own wing-wind
blossoms fall away;
whom does it blame, I wonder,
that it cries out so?

Meaning

As the warbler moves from branch to branch, scattering blossoms with the wind of its own wings, whom does it blame that it cries out so?

Commentary

Book II, Spring Poems (Part Two)

A poem composed on the song of the warbler.

The warbler’s cry is often taken as lamenting the falling blossoms; yet here, the poet notes that it is the bird itself that causes them to fall, and wonders at whom it directs its complaint, perhaps with a touch of gentle humor.

Author

Sosei Hoshi

Source

Kokin Wakashu

Other

If falling blossoms could be stayed by weeping, then surely I would not yield to the warbler’s cry.
Is it for the grief of blossoms falling away that it sounds so? In spring haze on Tatsuta Mountain, the warbler’s voice is heard.
To no avail, it cries out again and again— the warbler’s voice; for these blossoms do not fall only in this one year.
Let us rein our steeds, and go forth to see— in my old home, blossoms must be falling as though they were snow.

As it flits from branch to branch, by its own wing-wind blossoms fall away; whom does it blame, I wonder, that it cries out so?

As it flits from branch
to branch, by its own wing-wind
blossoms fall away;
whom does it blame, I wonder,
that it cries out so?