Hana no naka me ni aku ya tote wakeyukeba kokoro zo tomo ni chirinu beranaru - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

花のなかめに飽くやとて分け行けば
心ぞともに散りぬべらなる

Roma-ji: Hana no naka me ni aku ya tote wakeyukeba kokoro zo tomo ni chirinu beranaru
English Translation: Into the blossoms,
hoping my eyes might have their fill,
I make my way—
and my heart, along with them,
seems about to scatter too.
Meaning: As I push my way in among the blossoms, hoping my eyes might finally have their fill, it seems my heart itself is about to scatter along with them.
Commentary: Book Ten Names of Things 468

Headnote: "Composed when someone asked for a seasonal poem beginning with 'ha,' ending with 'ru,' and containing 'nagame'"
This poem says that when the speaker goes in among the blossoms, hoping to gaze until the eyes are sated, the heart seems ready to scatter along with them. According to the headnote, it was composed when someone asked for a seasonal poem beginning with "ha," ending with "ru," and including the word "nagame," and "nagame" is contained in "naka me" across the first and second lines. Placed last in the book, it answers the first poem, 422, in which the warbler is soaked by dripping blossoms, and closes the book with a poem of a heart drawn to flowers.
The poet, "Sōjō Shōbō," was a monk of the Shingon school who founded Daigo-ji. He was posthumously given the title Rigen Daishi and is also regarded as a restorer of Shugendō.

First line "Hana no naka" means "in among the blossoms," beginning the poem with "ha" as required.
Second line "me ni aku ya tote" means "hoping my eyes might have their fill." With "naka" of the first line, "naka me" contains the word "nagame."
Third line "wakeyukeba" means "as I push my way in among the blossoms."
Fourth line "kokoro zo tomo ni" means "my heart too, along with them," with the emphatic particle "zo."
Fifth line "chirinu beranaru" means "seems about to scatter," closing in the attributive "naru" in answer to "zo." It ends the poem with "ru" as required.
Author: Shōbō
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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