classic waka stream

み吉野の三船の山に立つ雲の
常にあらむと我が思はなくに
Roma-ji

Miyoshino no Mifune no yama ni tatsu kumo no tsune ni aramu to waga omowanaku ni

English Translation
In fair Yoshino,
on Mount Mifune there rise
the billowing clouds—
yet that I will ever stay
as they do, I do not think.
Meaning
Like the clouds that rise on Mount Mifune in fair Yoshino—yet I do not think that I shall remain forever.
Commentary
Book Three Miscellaneous Poems 244

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "A poem by Prince Yuge when he went on an excursion to Yoshino" — "A poem from a certain text"
This is a variant of poem 242, differing only in its first line, "In fair Yoshino," and its third, "the billowing clouds." A left note says it appears in the Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection; whether Prince Yuge's poem was taken into that collection, or a poem of the collection came to be handed down as the prince's, is uncertain, so the author cannot be fixed.

First line "In fair Yoshino": mi is an honorific prefix. The place name replaces "Above the rapids" of poem 242, widening the scene.
Second line "on Mount Mifune" names, as in poem 242, the mountain rising across from Miyataki in Yoshino.
Third line "the billowing clouds" captures rising, moving clouds in contrast to the "resting cloud," deepening the sense of transience.
Fourth line "that I will ever stay" means to go on living unchanged.
Fifth line "I do not think" is the same closing line as poem 242, ending with a sigh.
Source
Manyoshu
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