初花の散るべきものを人言の
繁きによりてよどむころかも
繁きによりてよどむころかも
- Roma-ji
-
Hatsuhana no chirubeki mono o hitogoto no shigeki ni yorite yodomu koro kamo
- English Translation
-
The first flower's bloom
surely is a thing to fall,
yet since people's talk
has grown so thick, all this while
I hold back and hesitate
- Meaning
- A first blossom is surely meant to fall, yet because the gossip is so thick, I have been holding back of late.
- Commentary
-
Book Four Love Poems 630
Headnote: "A poem by Saeki no Sukune Akamaro"
Just as a first blossom is bound to fall, the girl should in time yield to him, yet because gossip is so thick, he hesitates to meet her. It is a figurative poem likening a young girl to the first flowers.
The author, Saeki no Akamaro, appears to have been a Nara-period official, though little is known of him.
First line, "The first flower's bloom," names hatsuhana, first flowers, a figure for a young girl.
Second line, "surely is a thing to fall," uses the concessive o: though it is bound to fall.
Third line, "yet since people's talk," means the talk of people.
Fourth line, "has grown so thick, all this while," means because it is so loud.
Fifth line, "I hold back and hesitate," uses yodomu, "to stagnate, hesitate": these days I hold back.
- Author
- Saeki no Akamaro
- Source
- Manyoshu
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