しのびかねなきてかはづの惜しむをも
知らずうつろふ山吹の花
知らずうつろふ山吹の花
- Roma-ji
-
Shinobikane nakite kawazu no oshimu o mo shirazu utsurou yamabuki no hana
- English Translation
-
Unable to bear it,
the frogs cry out and mourn, yet
heedless of their grief,
fading and changing away
the kerria flowers go
- Meaning
- Unable to bear it, the frogs cry out in grief—yet heedless of their mourning, the kerria blossoms fade and fall away.
- Commentary
-
Book Three Spring Poems III 122
Headnote: "When the other's heart had become hard to rely on, she sent some kerria that had begun to fall, saying, 'Look at this.'"
The poem sings of kerria fading and falling, heedless of the frogs that cry out in unbearable grief. Likening herself to the weeping frog and her lover, whose heart is changing, to the fading kerria, she conveys her reproach.
According to the headnote, as the other's heart became hard to trust, she sent kerria that had begun to scatter, telling him to look at it.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us. The text gives the poet as "yomibito mo," which is treated here as "anonymous."
The first line, "Shinobikane," means "unable to bear it."
In the second line, "naki" is a pivot word joining the frogs "crying" and a person "weeping," laying the poet over the frog. 104 of this book also pairs frogs and kerria.
The third line, "oshimu o mo," means "even that the frogs grieve" over the falling flowers.
In the fourth line, "utsurou" joins flowers fading and falling with a person's change of heart. The preceding poem, 121, also uses "utsurou" of the kerria on the bank.
The last line, "yamabuki no hana," ends on a noun and is the same as the last line of 104 of this book. It points to the very kerria, half fallen, of the headnote.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Hanazakari mada mo suginu ni Yoshinogawa kage ni utsurou kishi no yamabuki
- Next Poem
-
Oritsureba tabusa ni kegaru tatenagara miyo no hotoke ni hana tatematsuru