今よりはうゑてだに見じ花すすき
穂にいづる秋はわびしかりけり
穂にいづる秋はわびしかりけり
- Roma-ji
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Ima yori wa uete dani miji hanasusuki
ho ni izuru aki wa wabishikarikeri - English Translation
-
from this time onward
I shall not even plant to see
the plume of silver grass—
for when its ears emerge in autumn
the loneliness grows too deep.
- Meaning
- From now on, I will not even plant it to admire. When the plume-grass comes into ear in autumn, it brings such deep loneliness.
- Commentary
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Book Four Autumn Poems (Part One)
The flowering susuki (pampas grass) is a sign of autumn, and it had been customary to plant it in one’s garden for viewing. Yet the poet resolves not even to plant it, for it brings a sense of desolation.
Perhaps some change in the poet’s circumstances has made autumn feel especially lonely.
"Hana-susuki" refers to pampas grass with its plumes in bloom.
- Author
- Taira no Sadabumi
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
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- is it a keepsake of one who lodged here before— wisteria-robe? ever breathing forth a scent so hard for me to forget.
- a scent without a lord comes drifting forth in fragrance— on autumn fields wide, whose might it be, cast off and left, this wisteria-robe I see?
- is it the grasses’ sleeves in the autumn fields that I see? plumes of silver grass emerging, seem to beckon— like sleeves that call me near.
- am I alone in this to find such beauty moving? crickets softly cry— in the evening’s fading light blooms the yamato-nadeshiko.