Haru saraba kazashi ni semu to waga moishi sakura no hana wa chiri ni keru kamo

春さらばかざしにせむと我が思ひし
桜の花は散りにけるかも

Roma-ji: Haru saraba kazashi ni semu to waga moishi sakura no hana wa chiri ni keru kamo
English Translation: When spring came round,
I meant to wear them in my hair,
so I had thought—
yet now the cherry blossoms
have scattered and are gone.
Meaning: The cherry blossoms I had meant to wear in my hair when spring came round have already scattered and fallen.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Poems with Tales of Origin and Miscellaneous Poems 3786

Headnote: "Poems with tales of origin, together with miscellaneous poems. Long ago there was a maiden called Sakurako. Two young men both courted her, ready to throw away their lives and longing for death in their rivalry. The maiden, sobbing, said: 'From ancient times to now I have never heard or seen of one woman going to two houses. The hearts of these men cannot now be reconciled; better that I die and end their strife forever.' She went deep into a wood and hanged herself from a tree. The two men could not bear their grief; tears of blood soaked their collars. Each set down his feelings in a poem; two poems."
The poet laments that the cherry blossoms he had meant to wear in his hair have fallen. The blossoms stand for the maiden Sakurako, and the scattering of petals carries his grief at her self-chosen death.
According to the headnote, two young men fought over one maiden, and she hanged herself in a wood to end their quarrel. This is the classic tale of two suitors and one woman, the same pattern as the legends of the Unai maiden and Tekona of Mama in Book Nine.
The poets are the two young men who courted Sakurako; their names are not recorded. This pair opens Book Sixteen's poems with tales of origin, and the story behind them is told in Chinese prose in the headnote.

First line, "haru saraba," means "when spring comes round." Saru describes the arrival of a season, and the conditional ba sets up a hope for the future.
Second line, "kazashi ni semu to," means "I would wear them in my hair." The volitional mu carries the young man's wish to make the maiden his wife.
Third line, "waga moishi," means "so I had thought." Moishi is a contracted form of omoishi, and the past auxiliary places the unfulfilled wish firmly in the past.
Fourth line, "sakura no hana wa," gives the maiden's own name, Sakurako, to the flower. The next poem, 3787, also names the cherry, so the pair shares a single name between them.
Final line, "chiri ni keru kamo," means "they have scattered." The perfective nu, the exclamatory keri, and kamo pile up to voice grief at a loss that cannot be undone.
Source: Manyoshu
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