Haru aki ni kagiranu hana ni oku tsuyu wa okure sakidatsu urami ya wa aru - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

春秋に限らぬ花に置く露は
おくれ先立つ恨みやはある

Roma-ji: Haru aki ni kagiranu hana ni oku tsuyu wa okure sakidatsu urami ya wa aru
English Translation: On the blossoms not
limited to spring or fall,
on the dew that rests,
is there grief at being left
behind, or going before?
Meaning: For the dew that rests on flowers that bloom beyond spring and autumn, can there be any grief at being left behind or going first?
Commentary: Book Twenty Buddhist Poems 1939

Headnote: "The Pleasure of Unceasing Bliss."
This is the third poem in the sequence on the Ten Pleasures of paradise. It says that the dew resting on the flowers of paradise, which bloom regardless of spring or autumn, knows no grief of being left behind or going first. The headnote gives as its topic the Pleasure of Unceasing Bliss, one of the Ten Pleasures.
In this world dew settles and vanishes, and people grieve at partings as some are left behind and others go first; the poem shows that in paradise joy never ends and there is no grief of parting.
No author is named in the text; continuing from the preceding poem, this is a poem by Jakuren Hōshi, whose lay name was Fujiwara no Sadanaga. A nephew of Fujiwara no Shunzei, he became Shunzei's adopted son. After taking vows he remained active as a poet and was appointed a compiler of the Shin Kokinshū, but died before its completion.
The Pleasure of Unceasing Bliss is the joy of paradise that neither ends nor recedes but continues forever.
The fourth line, "okure sakidatsu," draws on Archbishop Henjō's "Sue no tsuyu / moto no shizuku ya / yo no naka no / okure sakidatsu / tameshi naruran" (Book Eight, 757). Against Henjō's poem, which likens people outliving or preceding one another in death to dew, this poem answers that paradise holds no such grief.

The first line, "haru aki ni," points to the turning of the seasons, and with the following "kagiranu" leads to the permanence of paradise, untouched by season.
The second line, "kagiranu hana ni," names the flowers of paradise that bloom in every season and never scatter. It takes up the lotus of the preceding poem's "blossom's door."
In the third line, "oku tsuyu wa," "oku" echoes "okure" in the fourth line through repeated sound.
The fourth line, "okure sakidatsu," means being left behind and going first, using the very words of Henjō's poem.
The last line, "urami ya wa aru," is a rhetorical question with the particle "ya wa," strongly denying any such grief. The kakari-musubi of "ya wa" closes with the attributive "aru."
Author: Jakuren
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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