Kasumi tatsu Kasuga no nobe no wakana ni mo nari mite shi kana hito mo tsumu ya to - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

霞立つ春日の野辺の若菜にも
なり見てしかな人も摘むやと

Roma-ji: Kasumi tatsu Kasuga no nobe no wakana ni mo nari mite shi kana hito mo tsumu ya to
English Translation: Where the haze rises
on Kasuga's spring meadows,
a young green, even,
I would wish to become, and see
if that one might pick me too
Meaning: How I wish I could become a young green on the hazy meadows of Kasuga, to see whether that person might gather me too.
Commentary: Book One Spring Poems I 8

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This love poem longs to become a young green on the Kasuga meadows and be gathered by the one the poet loves. Onto the scene of gathering greens it lays the aching wish to be taken into that person's hands.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Where the haze rises," is a pillow word for "Kasuga," adding the scene of trailing spring haze.
The second line, "Kasuga's spring meadows," names Kasuga Plain, famed for gathering young greens. Kasuga Plain also appears in this book in 13 and 15.
In the third line, "a young green, even," "mo" conveys "if only a young green." It carries on the poems of the Day of the Rat and gathering greens before it.
In the fourth line, "teshi kana" expresses the poet's own wish to become a young green, and the poem pauses here.
The last line, "if that one might pick me too," is an inversion showing the hope that then the beloved might gather the poet.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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