If one were to break
and take it, surely it would
fall away at once—
on autumn bush clover boughs
white dew lies, bending the stems.
- Meaning
- If one were to break and take it, it would surely fall; the white dew upon the bending branches of autumn bush clover.
- Commentary
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Book Four Autumn Poems (Part One)
Like the previous poem, this poem speaks of the dew upon bush clover. As the poem suggests, the slender branches of bush clover bend easily, and the dew upon them would quickly fall if disturbed. Thus, the dew that remains upon the branches is seen as fleeting and beautiful.
“Tawawa” means so heavily laden that the branches bend under the weight.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
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- Do the passing geese as they cry across the sky shed their falling tears? On bush clover in this house where I brood, the drops of dew.
- The dewdrops on bush clover— to thread them as shining beads I took them in hand, but they vanished all away;— if one would see, see them there.
- Though bush clover blooms may be falling in the fields, through dew and white frost I will go on, drenched as I am, even though the night grows late.
- On autumn fields lie drops of white dew—are they gems? threaded one by one upon the slender strands spun of a spider’s woven thread.