白露に争ひかねて咲ける萩
散らば惜しけむ雨な降りそね
散らば惜しけむ雨な降りそね
- Roma-ji
-
Shiratsuyu ni arasoikanete sakeru hagi chiraba oshikemu ame na furi so ne
- English Translation
-
To the silver dew
unable to hold out long,
the bush clover blooms;
should it fall, how sad I'd be—
rain, I beg you, do not fall!
- Meaning
- The bush clover has bloomed, unable to hold out against the white dew—how sad if it should scatter! O rain, please do not fall.
- Commentary
-
Book Ten Autumn Miscellaneous Poems 2116
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On Flowers"
This poem grieves at the thought of the bush clover, brought to bloom as if urged by the white dew, scattering, and asks the rain not to fall. The clover that in 2102 strove against the dew to bloom here blooms unable to resist it, so the two poems sing of before and after the blossoming. It uses the same phrasing as "unable to resist the spring rain" in 1869 of the spring poems, so spring cherry and autumn bush clover correspond.
The first line, "against the white dew," names the rival.
The second line, "unable to resist," is the same phrase as in 1869.
The third line, "the bush clover that bloomed," breaks the poem after the third line.
In the fourth line, "chiraba oshikemu," "ba" marks a supposition and "kemu" conjecture: if it falls, how sad.
The last line, "ame na furi so ne," is the same ending as 2097, closing with a plea that the rain not fall.
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
-
Te ni toreba sode sae niou ominaeshi kono shiratsuyu ni chiramaku oshi mo
- Next Poem
-
Otomera ni yukiai no wase o karu toki ni narinikerashi mo hagi no hana saku