Hisashikare ada ni chiru na to sakurabana kame ni saseredo utsuroi ni keri - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

久しかれあだに散るなと桜花
かめに挿せれどうつろひにけり

Roma-ji: Hisashikare ada ni chiru na to sakurabana kame ni saseredo utsuroi ni keri
English Translation: Last long, do not fall
in vain, I told them, and placed
the cherry blossoms
in a vase, the tortoise-vessel,
yet still their color faded
Meaning: Last long, I told them, do not scatter in vain—and I set the cherry blossoms in a vase that shares its name with the long-lived tortoise, yet still they faded.
Commentary: Book Three Spring Poems III 82

Headnote: "On seeing the cherry blossoms he had placed in a vase scatter, sent to Nakatsukasa."
The poet laments that the cherry he set in a vase, wishing it to last and not fall in vain, faded all the same. While placing his hope in the word "kame," which recalls the long-lived tortoise, he mourns the transience of the flowers.
According to the headnote, it was sent to Nakatsukasa when the cherry blossoms he had put in a vase scattered. The next poem is Nakatsukasa's reply, and the two form an exchange.
The poet, called "Tsurayuki," is Ki no Tsurayuki. A son of Ki no Mochiyuki, he was the leading compiler of the Kokin Wakashū and wrote its kana preface. He served as governor of Tosa among other posts, is known as the author of the Tosa Diary, and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

The first line, "Hisashikare," is the imperative of the adjective "hisashi," calling on the flowers to last long. The poem pauses here.
In the second line, "ada ni" means vainly, fleetingly, and "na" expresses prohibition.
The third line, "sakurabana," names the cherry branch set in the vase. The next poem, 83, also places "sakurabana" in its third line.
In the fourth line, "kame" is a pivot word joining "vase," in which flowers are placed, and "tortoise," a symbol of long life. "Re" is the perfective form of the continuative auxiliary "ri," and "do" is adversative: "though I had placed them." The next poem, 83, answers by placing the same line second.
In the last line, "utsurou" means for the flowers' color to fade, and "ni keri" expresses completion with a sigh. 102 of this book likewise ends with "utsuroi ni kere," singing of the fading not of flowers but of a person's heart.
Author: Ki no Tsurayuki
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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