when first I planted it,
how I longed to see it bloom—
this chrysanthemum; yet
did I ever think I would meet it
in autumn as it fades away?
- Meaning
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When I planted it, I longed to see the chrysanthemum bloom, yet I never thought I would meet it in autumn as it fades away.
- Commentary
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Book Five Autumn Poems (Part Two)
Composed for a poetry contest in the imperial palace during the Kanpyō era.
When planting flowers, one eagerly awaits their bloom, yet once they do bloom, they soon fade and fall. The poem expresses both regret at the withering of the chrysanthemum and a lament for the swift passage of time.
The particle “ya” in “ahamu to ya mishi” is rhetorical, implying “did I ever think so?—surely not.”
- Author
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Oe no Chisato
- Source
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Kokin Wakashu
- Other
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in the lofty heights
above the clouds where I behold
these blooming chrysanthemums—
they are mistaken, it would seem,
for stars set in the heavens.
-
still with its dew upon it,
I shall pluck and wear the chrysanthemum—
so that this autumn,
which knows no aging, may endure
and last for long unending days.
-
raised by autumn winds
upon the shore of Fukiage, stand
these white chrysanthemums—
are they flowers, or could they be
the waves that gather on the shore?
-
drenched, I dry my robes
on a mountain path, among
chrysanthemums—
within the space of this dew,
when did I pass a thousand years?