That they scatter here
in the wind is the world's way
but a flower that fades
while it still clings to the branch
I could not watch unmoved

Meaning

That they scatter in the wind is the way of the world, but a flower that fades while still on the branch I could not watch unmoved.

Commentary

Part Three: Takekawa

　　This is the younger sister's answer to Saisho's show of indifference. The cherry is hers now by the outcome of the game. After it come a poem from Tayu, a gentlewoman on her side, one from a girl of the same side, and one from Nareki, a girl of the losing side: six in all.

　She grants first that scattering in the wind is the way of the world, taking up the other poem's words, and then turns: what she could not watch calmly is a flower that fades while still on the branch. "Utsurou" is the fading of a flower's color, and the color of the loser's face can be read into it. "Tada ni shimo miji" is that one cannot look on as though nothing were happening. It is the winner teasing, gently, the one who is making light of her loss.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

That they scatter here in the wind is the world's way but a flower that fades while it still clings to the branch I could not watch unmoved

That they scatter here
in the wind is the world's way
but a flower that fades
while it still clings to the branch
I could not watch unmoved