Chiyo fu beki kame ni saseredo sakurabana tomaran koto wa tsune ni ya wa aranu - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

千世経べきかめに挿せれど桜花
とまらん事は常にやはあらぬ

Roma-ji: Chiyo fu beki kame ni saseredo sakurabana tomaran koto wa tsune ni ya wa aranu
English Translation: Though you placed them in
a vase, the tortoise-vessel
of a thousand years,
that cherry blossoms should stay—
when has that ever been so?
Meaning: Though you placed them in a vase that shares its name with the thousand-year tortoise, has it ever been the way of cherry blossoms to stay?
Commentary: Book Three Spring Poems III 83

Headnote: "Reply."
To Ki no Tsurayuki, who in the preceding poem lamented that the cherry he set in a vase had faded, she replies that even in a vase named for the thousand-year tortoise, flowers never stay. Accepting the fading of flowers as the way of the world, she eases his grief.
It forms an exchange with the preceding poem, 82.
The poet, Nakatsukasa, was the daughter of Prince Atsuyoshi, a son of Emperor Uda, and Ise. She was named after her father's post as Minister of Central Affairs and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

The first line, "Chiyo fu beki," means "that should live a thousand years," leading to the long-lived tortoise. It takes up "hisashikare" in the preceding poem and points to a still longer span of time.
In the second line, "kame" is a pivot word joining "vase" and "tortoise," taking up the fourth line of the preceding poem, 82, unchanged.
The third line, "sakurabana," is placed third as in the preceding poem, giving the exchange a matching form.
In the fourth line, "n" is the conjectural auxiliary "mu": "that the flowers should stay without falling."
In the last line, "ya wa" is a particle forming a kakarimusubi pattern with the attributive "nu." It presses the point that flowers never stay, teaching that their fading is the way of the world.
Author: Nakatsukasa
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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