梅の花咲き散る園に我れ行かむ
君が使を片待ちがてり
君が使を片待ちがてり
- Roma-ji
-
Ume no hana sakichiru sono ni ware yukamu kimi ga tsukai o katamachigateri
- English Translation
-
Where the plum blossoms
open and then scatter down,
to that garden I'll go,
while I wait with all my heart
for a messenger from you.
- Meaning
- I will go to the garden where the plum blossoms bloom and scatter, while I wait and wait for a messenger from you.
- Commentary
-
Book Ten Spring Love Poems 1900
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Love Expressed Through Flowers"
This poem decides to go out to the garden where the plum blossoms bloom and scatter, to ease the heart waiting for a messenger from the beloved. Gazing at the flowers becomes a way to soothe the pain of waiting, and the phrase "katamachigateri" conveys a heart waiting restlessly. The plum admired in the miscellaneous poems is here sung as a solace for waiting love.
The first line, "plum blossoms," sets the scene of the garden.
The second line, "the garden where they bloom and scatter," shows the plum garden from full bloom to falling.
In the third line, "ware yukamu," "mu" expresses intention, and the poem breaks here.
The fourth line, "your messenger," refers to the one who carries word from the beloved.
In the last line, "katamachigateri," "katamatsu" means to wait single-mindedly and "gateri" means while also doing so. By inversion it gives at the end the reason for going out.
- Source
- Manyoshu
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