Haru no no ni kokoro o dani mo yaranu mi wa wakana wa tsumade toshi o koso tsume - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

春の野に心をだにもやらぬ身は
若菜は摘まで年をこそつめ

Roma-ji: Haru no no ni kokoro o dani mo yaranu mi wa wakana wa tsumade toshi o koso tsume
English Translation: To the fields of spring
not even my heart can I
send, and so my lot:
picking no young greens at all,
I only pile up the years
Meaning: I who cannot even send my heart out to the spring fields gather no young greens; I only gather years upon years.
Commentary: Book One Spring Poems I 9

Headnote: "Sent to someone who went out for the Day of the Rat and left the poet behind."
Left behind by someone who went out for the Day of the Rat outing, the poet sent this poem. While others go into the fields to pick young greens, he laments that he only piles up the years. It is a witty poem playing on "tsumu," to pick greens and to accumulate years.
According to the headnote, he wrote it when left behind by someone setting out for the Day of the Rat. One may read in it the loneliness of not going along overlaid with a lament over his lack of advancement.
The poet, called "Mitsune," is Ōshikōchi no Mitsune. One of the compilers of the Kokin Wakashū, he served as a minor official in Kai and Izumi provinces, and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

The first line, "To the fields of spring," names the spring fields of the Day of the Rat outing, taking up the poems on gathering greens before it.
In the second line, "dani" means "if only," showing that not even his heart, let alone his body, can turn to the fields.
The third line, "yaranu mi wa," refers to himself, unable even to send his heart far away.
The fourth line, "picking no young greens," shows that while others pick greens, he does not.
In the last line, "tsume" is a pivot word joining "picking" greens and "piling up" years. It ends in the perfective form in answer to "koso," intensifying his lament that he only grows older.
Author: Oshikochi no Mitsune
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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