Moeizuru konome o mite mo ne o zo naku kare ni shi eda no haru o shiraneba - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

萌え出づる木の芽を見ても音をぞ泣く
かれにし枝の春を知らねば

Roma-ji: Moeizuru konome o mite mo ne o zo naku kare ni shi eda no haru o shiraneba
English Translation: Even as I see
the tender buds bursting forth,
aloud I weep, for
the branch withered and forsaken
can never know the spring
Meaning: Even seeing the new buds sprouting, I weep aloud, for the branch that has withered, as you have withered away from me, knows no spring.
Commentary: Book One Spring Poems I 14

Headnote: "Sent to a man who had stopped visiting her, with a withered branch broken from a tree in the garden on the side where he had lived."
To a man who no longer came to her, the poet sent a withered branch from the garden where they had lived together. In spring, when the trees around her are budding, she says no spring comes to the withered branch, overlaying it with her own grief at being abandoned.
According to the headnote, she broke off a withered branch from the tree in the garden on the side where the man had lived and sent it with the poem. By actually enclosing the dead branch, she conveys her lament all the more keenly.
The poet, called "the daughter of Prince Kanemi," was a daughter of Prince Kanemi, a son of Prince Koretaka who served as Minister of the Imperial Household.

The first line, "Even as I see," together with what follows, shows new buds bursting forth in spring.
The second line, "the tender buds," means even when she sees the new buds of the trees around her, contrasting spring's vitality with her grief.
In the third line, "zo" forms a kakarimusubi pattern with the attributive "naku," emphasizing that she weeps aloud. The poem pauses here.
In the fourth line, "kare" is a pivot word joining a tree "withering" and a man "drifting away." "Bursting," "buds," "branch," and "spring" are linked as associated words.
The last line, "can never know the spring," means that no spring comes to the withered branch, carrying her lament that no spring of love will come to her again.
Author: Daughter of Prince Kanemi
Source: Gosen Wakashu
Prev Poem: Kasugano ni ouru wakana o mite shi yori kokoro o tsune ni omoiyaru kana
Next Poem: Itsu no ma ni kasumi tatsuran Kasugano no yuki dani tokenu fuyu to mishi ma ni