Though they have scattered
on the wind of the wide sky
these cherry blossoms
we gather them up and look
calling them our own after all

Meaning

Though they have scattered on the wind of the wide sky, we gather up the cherry blossoms and look at them, calling them ours after all.

Commentary

Part Three: Takekawa

　　A girl of the winning side went down into the garden, walked about under the tree, gathered up a great many fallen petals, brought them in, and spoke this. A girl of the losing side, Nareki, answered her, and there the exchange of six poems ends.

　Where the poem before had brought in the water of the pond, this one answers with the wide sky; and where that poem called the flowers over, this one settles the matter by claiming them as already its own. "Kakitsumu" is to rake or gather together. Scattered though they are, if we gather them they are ours: it is a child's logic, and the winning side's satisfaction comes through it plainly. That even the girls take part shows how much this is a game played by the whole household.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

Though they have scattered on the wind of the wide sky these cherry blossoms we gather them up and look calling them our own after all

Though they have scattered
on the wind of the wide sky
these cherry blossoms
we gather them up and look
calling them our own after all