Waga seko ni misemu to omoishi ume no hana sore to mo miezu yuki no furereba

我が背子に見せむと思ひし梅の花
それとも見えず雪の降れれば

Roma-ji: Waga seko ni misemu to omoishi ume no hana sore to mo miezu yuki no furereba
English Translation: To you, my dear friend,
I thought that I would show them,
these blossoms of plum,
but I cannot tell them now,
for the snow has fallen deep
Meaning: The plum blossoms I had meant to show you can no longer be told apart, for snow has fallen over them.
Commentary: Book Eight Spring Miscellaneous Poems 1426

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Four poems by Yamabe no Sukune Akahito"
The poet had looked forward to showing plum blossoms to someone dear, but now they are lost among the fallen snow and cannot be made out. The beauty of white plum and white snow melting into one another and the disappointment of being unable to show them are expressed at once. "Waga seko" is a term a woman uses for a man, but here it is also read as a greeting to a close friend.
The author, Yamabe no Akahito, was a court poet of the early Nara period. He excelled at pure, clear landscape poems and was later ranked alongside Kakinomoto no Hitomaro.
The winter section of the Kokin Wakashū contains a similar poem, "The plum blossoms cannot be told apart, for the snow that clouds the heavens falls over all," with a note attributing it to Kakinomoto no Hitomaro.

The first line names the person to whom he wished to show the plum.
The second line, with the volitional "mu" and past "shi," shows that he had planned to show them. The same line appears in 1508 of this book, where the poet wishes to show mandarin orange blossoms to "my beloved," a woman; the person addressed and the flower are exchanged, forming a correspondence.
The third line presents the object of that intention as a noun: the plum blossoms.
The fourth line means that he cannot tell which are the plum blossoms, and the poem pauses here.
The final line gives the reason, "for the snow has fallen," closing the poem through inversion. White plum and white snow blending together are also sung in 1640 and 1645 of the winter miscellaneous poems of this book.
Author: Yamabe no Akahito
Source: Manyoshu
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