相思はでうつろふ色を見るものを
花に知られぬながめするかな
花に知られぬながめするかな
- Roma-ji
-
Ai omowade utsurou iro o miru mono o hana ni shirarenu nagame suru kana
- English Translation
-
Not loving me back,
the fading of your color
still I watch, and yet
unknown to the flowers I
gaze on, lost in brooding thought
- Meaning
- The blossoms do not return my love, yet I watch their color fade, gazing in brooding thought that the flowers will never know of.
- Commentary
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Book Two Spring Poems II 59
Headnote: "On seeing the blossoms fall."
Watching the blossoms fall, the poet says that though the flowers do not care for him, he gazes on them lost in thought they will never know. Likening his feeling for the flowers to unrequited love, he shows a heart that watches the blossoms while holding a longing that goes unrewarded.
According to the headnote, it was composed on seeing the blossoms fall.
The poet, Ōshikōchi no Mitsune, was 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, "Ai omowade," means "without mutual feeling" and has six syllables, one more than the norm. The flowers' indifference is likened to one-sided love.
The second line, "utsurou iro o," presents the color of blossoms fading and falling.
In the third line, "mono o" is adversative: "though I watch."
In the fourth line, "re" is passive: "unknown to the flowers."
In the last line, "nagame" means gazing absently while lost in thought, and "kana" expresses a sigh.
- Author
- Oshikochi no Mitsune
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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