Ima sara ni yuki furameyamo kagerō no moyuru haruhi to narinishi mono o

English Translation

Would snow fall again
at this late hour? Surely not
for the shimmering
of the burning day of spring
has already come to be

Meaning

Would snow fall now, at this late hour? It would not. The days have already turned to spring, when the heat-haze burns above the ground.

Commentary

Book One Spring Poems I 21

Headnote: as in the preceding poem, topic unknown.
A run of poems has held snow and spring together; this one cuts it off with a rhetorical question and declares that no snow will fall again. The passage from winter to spring is settled here. The headnote carries over from the poem before.
The poet is recorded only as unknown.
The season is after the time of snow, when the heat-haze rises; no place is given.
The occasion of composition is not recorded.
The poem derives from a piece in Book Ten of the Man'yoshu.

The first line means: at this point, now of all times, marking a season already past.
The particle closing the second line makes the question rhetorical: would snow fall? It would not. Against the several poems that have kept snow and spring together, snow is here plainly dismissed.
The third line names the heat-haze, the shimmer of warm air rising off the ground, set down as the exact opposite of snow.
The fourth line says the days have become spring days, in which that haze burns. The verb carries the sense of flame and sharpens the feeling that the cold is gone.
The final particle is concessive and exclamatory at once, with the sense of and yet it has already become so. It supports the rhetorical question from behind and lets the poem close on an unresolved note.

Author

Unknown Poet

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other