けふのみと春をおもはぬ時だにも
立つことやすき花のかげかは
立つことやすき花のかげかは
- Roma-ji
-
Kyō nomi to haru o omowanu toki dani mo
tatsu koto yasuki hana no kage ka wa - English Translation
-
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.