咲きてとく散るは憂けれどゆく春は
花の都を立ち帰り見よ
花の都を立ち帰り見よ
- Roma-ji
-
Sakite toku chiru wa ukeredo yuku haru wa
hana no miyako o tachikaeri mi yo - English Translation
-
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
- Prev Poem
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Itsu ka mata haru no miyako no hana o mimu
toki ushinaeru yamagatsu ni shite - Next Poem
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Ikeru yo no wakare o shirade chigiritsutsu
inochi o hito ni kagirikeru kana