Hana shi araba nani ka wa haru no oshikaran kuru tomo kyō wa nagekazaramashi - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

花しあらば何かは春の惜しからん
暮るとも今日は嘆かざらまし

Roma-ji: Hana shi araba nani ka wa haru no oshikaran kuru tomo kyō wa nagekazaramashi
English Translation: If the flowers stayed,
why should I regret the spring?
though it reach its end,
today I would not lament
if only it were so
Meaning: If only the flowers remained, why would I regret the spring? Even as it ended, I would not grieve today.
Commentary: Book Three Spring Poems III 144

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "The last day of the Third Month."
If only the flowers remained, the poet says, there would be no regret for spring, and even as it ended he would not grieve today. Through a counterfactual, the poem shows that the true cause of regret for spring lies in the flowers.
From 141 to the closing poem of the book, 146, follows a sequence of poems regretting the last day of spring.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.

In the first line, "shi" is emphatic and "ba" conditional: "if only there were flowers." It corresponds with "mashi" in the last line.
In the second line, "ka wa" is a rhetorical particle forming a kakarimusubi pattern with the attributive "n" in the third line.
The third line, "oshikaran," means "would it be regrettable? Not at all." The poem pauses here.
In the fourth line, "kuru" means for spring to end, and "tomo" is concessive.
In the last line, "mashi" is counterfactual: "I would not grieve." Behind it lies the feeling that, since the flowers are gone, he cannot help but grieve.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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