Even when one does not think
that spring ends today,
still—
how can one easily rise
from beneath the blossoms’ shade?

Meaning

Even when one does not think that spring will end today, how can one easily leave the shade of the blossoms?

Commentary

Book II, Spring Poems (Part Two)

A poem on the end of spring from a poetry contest at Teishiin.

Even when it is not the last day of spring, it is hard to leave the blossoms; how much more so on the very day when spring comes to an end. The Spring Poems of the Kokinshū conclude with this verse on the last day of spring.

Author

Oshikochi no Mitsune

Source

Kokin Wakashu

Other

Though there is nothing that can be held and kept, how fleeting it is— that with each falling blossom my heart is drawn along.
Soaked through with rain, I forced myself to break them— for within the year, how many days of spring can there truly be?
At my dwelling, the wisteria waves by the pond have bloomed; when will the mountain cuckoo come and sing?
Perhaps it would not share the words of praise— “how lovely”— so, lagging behind the spring, it blooms alone.

Even when one does not think that spring ends today, still— how can one easily rise from beneath the blossoms’ shade?

Even when one does not think
that spring ends today,
still—
how can one easily rise
from beneath the blossoms’ shade?