Harusame ni ika ni zo ume ya niouran waga miru eda wa iro mo kawarazu - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

春雨にいかにぞ梅やにほふらん
我が見る枝は色も変はらず

Roma-ji: Harusame ni ika ni zo ume ya niouran waga miru eda wa iro mo kawarazu
English Translation: In the spring rain, how
could the plum blossoms, I wonder,
be shining in bloom?
On the branches that I see
not even the hue has changed
Meaning: How could the plum be blooming so brightly in the spring rain? The branches I am looking at have not even changed their color.
Commentary: Book One Spring Poems I 39

Headnote: "Reply."
Pressed in the preceding poem with the claim that the plum must be at its peak, the poet replies that the branches he sees have not even changed color, which is why he sent no word. He answers lightly that he has not forgotten his promise.
It forms a pair of exchanged poems with the preceding poem, 38. Denying the full bloom the other imagined from the standpoint of one actually watching the tree, it makes for a charming exchange.
The poet, Ki no Haseo, was a son of Ki no Sadanori and a man of letters who studied under Sugawara no Michizane. He rose through such posts as Professor of Literature to Middle Counselor.

The first line, "In the spring rain," means "amid the falling spring rain." Spring rain also appears in this book in 4 and 32.
In the second line, "ika ni zo" means "how," and "ya" is an interrogative particle corresponding to "ran" in the third line.
In the third line, "niou" means for blossoms to bloom radiantly. Taking up "must be at their height" from the preceding poem, it asks back why one would think they are blooming. The poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "On the branches that I see," presents the branches the poet actually sees, setting what he observes against the other's imagining.
The last line, "not even the hue has changed," means the buds have not changed color, that is, the plum has not yet bloomed.
Author: Ki no Haseo
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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