春されば卯の花ぐたし我が越えし
妹が垣間は荒れにけるかも
妹が垣間は荒れにけるかも
- Roma-ji
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Haru sareba unohana gutashi waga koeshi imo ga kakima wa arenikeru ka mo
- English Translation
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When the spring came round,
trampling the unohana,
I crossed over there—
the gap in my love's hedgerow
has now grown wild and ruined.
- Meaning
- The gap in my beloved's hedge, where I used to cross in spring, trampling the deutzia blossoms, has now fallen into ruin.
- Commentary
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Book Ten Spring Love Poems 1899
Headnote: "Love Expressed Through Flowers"
This poem laments that the gap in a beloved's hedge, once crossed while trampling the deutzia blossoms, has now fallen into ruin, and its headnote is "Love Expressed Through Flowers." Memories of the days of visiting the beloved are set against the loneliness now seen in the ruined hedge, hinting at the end of love or the absence of the beloved. The deutzia is an early summer flower, but the poem is placed among the spring love poems.
The first line, "when spring came," marks the season.
In the second line, "unohana gutashi," "kutasu" means to spoil or damage: trampling the deutzia.
In the third line, "waga koeshi," "shi" is the attributive of the past auxiliary "ki," recalling crossing the hedge in the past.
The fourth line, "the gap in my beloved's hedge," names the place of those visits.
In the last line, "arenikeru ka mo," "keri" and "ka mo" are exclamatory, closing with the loneliness of noticing the hedge has fallen into ruin.
- Source
- Manyoshu
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