Had I been able
to see them as bracken shoots
you had picked yourself
on the peak, I might have known
them for a sign of springtime

Meaning

Had I been able to see them as bracken you yourself had picked on the peak, I might have known them for a sign of spring.

Commentary

Part Three: Shiigamoto

　With the new year, bracken and cress arrived from the abbot at the mountain temple. While their father lived, such first gifts of the season had been set before him. Remembering this, Oigimi spoke, and Naka no Kimi followed. The loneliness of a first spring with only the two of them is drawn through a gift of wild greens.

　The bracken is the season's first, sent down from the temple. Mashikaba ... mashi is contrary to fact, the impossible supposition that her father had gathered them. "A sign of spring" is the proof that spring has come, and she turns it into a lament that the season may turn while the heart does not. A small customary gift becomes the measure of how much has been lost.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

Had I been able to see them as bracken shoots you had picked yourself on the peak, I might have known them for a sign of springtime

Had I been able
to see them as bracken shoots
you had picked yourself
on the peak, I might have known
them for a sign of springtime