Kyō sakura shizuku ni waga mi iza nuremu kagome ni sasou kaze no konu ma ni - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

今日桜雫に我が身いざ濡れむ
香ごめに誘ふ風の来ぬ間に

Roma-ji: Kyō sakura shizuku ni waga mi iza nuremu kagome ni sasou kaze no konu ma ni
English Translation: Today, cherry tree,
in your dewdrops, come, let me
drench myself through,
before the wind arrives
to sweep your scent away with you
Meaning: Come, today let me drench myself in the dew from the cherry blossoms, before the wind arrives to carry them off, fragrance and all.
Commentary: Book Two Spring Poems II 56

Headnote: "In the Jōgan era, when he served at the archery ceremony."
The poet calls on himself to be drenched in the drops resting on the cherry blossoms, before the wind comes to carry off the flowers along with their scent, cherishing the height of bloom. In the conceit of being wetted by the flowers' dew lies the wish to receive today's blossoms into his very being.
According to the headnote, it was composed when he served at an archery ceremony at court in the Jōgan era of Emperor Seiwa. It was presumably composed before the cherries of the palace garden on a formal occasion such as the spring archery contest.
The poet, called "the Kawara Minister of the Left," is Minamoto no Tōru. A son of Emperor Saga, he left the imperial family with the surname Minamoto and rose to Minister of the Left. He is so called because he built the magnificent Kawara-in by the river at Rokujō.

The first line, "Kyō sakura," presents in a single breath the day and the cherry before him, strongly voicing his feeling for today's blossoms.
The second line, "shizuku ni waga mi," means "my body in the drops upon the cherry blossoms."
In the third line, "iza" urges "come," and "mu" expresses intention. The poem pauses here.
In the fourth line, "kagome" means "scent and all," describing the wind carrying off the blossoms together with their fragrance.
The last line, "kaze no konu ma ni," means "before the wind comes," an inversion of the third line. The next poem, 57, also sings of "the wind that will blow," continuing poems that pair cherry and wind.
Author: Minamoto no Tōru
Source: Gosen Wakashu
Prev Poem: Sakurabana niou to mo naku haru kureba nado ka nageki no shigeri nomi suru
Next Poem: Sakurabana nushi o wasurenu mono naraba fukikomu kaze ni kotozute wa seyo