思ふともかれなむ人をいかがせむ
飽かず散りぬる花とこそ見め
飽かず散りぬる花とこそ見め
- Roma-ji
-
Omou tomo karenamu hito o ikaga semu akazu chirinuru hana to koso mime
- English Translation
-
However I love,
what am I to do with one
who will drift away?
Like blossoms scattered too soon,
so I'll look upon her going
- Meaning
- However much I love her, what can I do about someone who is bound to drift away? I will look on her as a blossom that scattered before I could tire of gazing at it.
- Commentary
-
Book Fifteen Love Poems V 799
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
There is no holding someone who drifts away however much one loves, so the speaker resolves to regard her as a flower that scattered before he could tire of it. By likening the departing lover to falling blossoms, the grief is turned into a graceful resignation. Following the preceding poem, poems that liken a change of heart to scattering flowers continue.
The author, "Sosei Hōshi," is the Priest Sosei, a son of Henjō born before his father took vows, with the lay name Yoshimine no Harutoshi. He became a monk at his father's wish, lived at the Urin'in, and later moved to the Ryōin'in in Yamato. He is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.
In the first line tomo is a concessive hypothetical: even though I love.
In the second line kare means both a person drifting away and plants withering, and namu expresses completion and conjecture: one who will surely leave.
The third line, "what shall I do? Nothing can be done," is where the poem breaks.
The fourth line, "scattered before I tired of it," uses akazu to express regret at something not yet enjoyed to the full.
The last line resolves koso with me, the perfective of mu, expressing the resolve to see it as a flower.
- Author
- Sosei Hoshi
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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Ware nomi ya yo o uguisu to nakiwabimu hito no kokoro no hana to chirinaba
- Next Poem
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Ima wa tote kimi ga karenaba waga yado no hana o ba hitori mite ya shinobamu