Ume no hana sakite chirinaba sakurabana tsugite sakubeku nari ni te arazu ya

梅の花咲きて散りなば桜花
継ぎて咲くべくなりにてあらずや

Roma-ji: Ume no hana sakite chirinaba sakurabana tsugite sakubeku nari ni te arazu ya
English Translation: When the plum blossoms
have bloomed and scattered away,
the cherry blossoms
are all set to bloom in turn —
is that not how things now stand?
Meaning: When the plum blossoms have bloomed and fallen, aren't the cherry blossoms ready to bloom in their turn?
Commentary: Book Five Miscellaneous Poems 829

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Thirty-two poems on plum blossoms, with preface"
The poet reminds the company that even when the plums bloom and fall, the cherries are set to bloom next. Among many poems regretting the falling plum, it looks ahead to the cherry and the turning of the season, comforting the company with the thought that spring's pleasures never run out.
This is one of the thirty-two poems of the Plum Blossom Banquet, held on the thirteenth day of the first month of Tenpyō 2, when officials of Dazaifu and provincial governors of Kyushu gathered at the residence of the Governor-General Ōtomo no Tabito and composed poems on the plum trees in his garden. The Chinese preface describes how, in the auspicious first month of early spring, the air was fine and the breeze gentle, the plums opened white like face powder before a mirror, and the orchids gave off a scent like a perfume sachet; it is also famous as the source of the era name Reiwa. The preface closes by proposing that, just as Chinese poetry has its pieces on falling plum blossoms, the company should compose short poems on the garden plums. The poem is signed "Physician Chō-shi Fukushi"; physicians were posted at Dazaifu.
The poet, Chō no Fukushi, was of the Chō clan, thought to be of immigrant descent, and served as a physician at Dazaifu.

First line, "ume no hana": sets out the banquet's theme.
Second line, "sakite chirinaba": "naba" is conditional, "once they have fallen," looking past the plum's peak.
Third line, "sakurabana": the cherry appears as the spring flower that follows the plum, a rare mention among the banquet poems.
Fourth line, "tsugite sakubeku": "bound to bloom next."
Fifth line, "nari ni te arazu ya": "is it not so?"—seeking agreement, closing like 817's "nari ni kerazu ya" with an appeal to the company.
Author: Chō no Fukushi
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Hito goto ni orikazashitsutsu asobedomo iya mezurashiki ume no hana kamo
Next Poem: Yorozuyo ni toshi wa kifu tomo ume no hana tayuru koto naku sakiwataru beshi