It is hard that they
bloom and scatter so quickly,
but as spring goes on,
come back and look once again
on the flowering city here

Meaning

It is hard that they bloom and fall so soon; but as the spring goes by, come back and look on this city of flowers again.

Commentary

Part One: Suma

　Omyobu answered on the Heir Apparent's behalf. She says that his own reply is not something she could send on, and reports how forlorn the child seemed. From that day the loss of Genji from the palace was mourned by great and small alike.

　"Blooming and falling at once" answers the cherry branch to which the poem was tied. "Yuku haru" is the spring going by, that is, the passage of time. "The city of flowers" returns his "flowers of the spring capital." "Come back and look" is an imperative, and so an encouragement: he will certainly return. Standing between them, she speaks for the child and offers hope at the same time.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

How does he look on me now, that departed soul— and even the moon I gaze at, likening it to him, has gone behind cloud
When shall I again look on the flowers of the capital in spring, being now a mountain man who has lost his hour at last
Not knowing that there are partings even in life, we made our promise, and I set the term of my own life by another's life
With this life of mine, which I would not grudge at all, I would buy the right to hold back for a little the parting here before me

It is hard that they bloom and scatter so quickly, but as spring goes on, come back and look once again on the flowering city here

It is hard that they
bloom and scatter so quickly,
but as spring goes on,
come back and look once again
on the flowering city here