Toki wakazu tsuki ka yuki ka to miru made ni kakine no mama ni sakeru u no hana - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

時分かず月か雪かと見るまでに
垣根のままに咲ける卯の花

Roma-ji: Toki wakazu tsuki ka yuki ka to miru made ni kakine no mama ni sakeru u no hana
English Translation: Heedless of season,
moonlight, or is it snow, I wonder,
so it seems to me,
all along the hedge they bloom,
the deutzia flowers white
Meaning: Heedless of the season, the deutzia bloom all along the hedge, so that I wonder whether it is moonlight or snow.
Commentary: Book Four Summer Poems 155

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sent in reproach because a friend did not come even to inquire after her."
The poem sings of deutzia blooming the full length of the hedge, so that, heedless of the season, one wonders whether it is moonlight or snow. Likening their whiteness to both moonlight and snow, it praises the brightness of the flowers.
In the text it bears the same headnote as the preceding poem and is set among the poems sent to a friend who did not visit. It can be read as carrying her feelings toward a friend who does not come to see the deutzia in full bloom.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us. The text gives the author as "yomibito mo," but it is treated here as anonymous.

The first line, "Toki wakazu," means "without regard to the season," beginning with the same words as 153 of this book. The two share nearly the same upper verses and last line and form a pair.
The second line, "tsuki ka yuki ka to," means "moonlight or snow," adding moonlight to "fureru yuki ka to" in 153 and doubling the likeness.
The third line, "miru made ni," means "to the point of seeming," the same line as in 153.
The fourth line, "kakine no mama ni," means "just as the hedge runs," all along it. Where "kakine mo tawa ni" in 153 conveys the weight of the blossoms, this conveys their spread.
The last line, "sakeru u no hana," ends on a noun, closing with the same line as 153.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
Prev Poem: Shirotae ni niou kakine no u no hana no uku mo kite tou hito no naki kana
Next Poem: Nakiwabinu izuchi ka yukan hototogisu nao u no hana no kage wa hanareji