撫子の花散りがたになりにけり
わが待つ秋ぞ近くなるらし
わが待つ秋ぞ近くなるらし
- Roma-ji
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Nadeshiko no hana chirigata ni narinikeri waga matsu aki zo chikaku narurashi
- English Translation
-
The pinks, I see, are
now about to fall and scatter,
their time is come;
the autumn that I long await
must be drawing near at last
- Meaning
- The pinks are now about to scatter—the autumn I have been waiting for must be drawing near.
- Commentary
-
Book Four Summer Poems 204
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
Seeing the pinks about to scatter, the poet senses that the autumn he awaits is drawing near. In the waning of a summer flower he feels the turning of the seasons and shows a heart awaiting autumn's arrival.
The sequence on pinks closes with this poem, and from here the poems move from summer's end toward the approach of autumn.
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, "Nadeshiko no," names the pinks. The sequence of pinks running from 198 of this book closes with this poem.
The second line, "hana chirigata ni," means "to the point of scattering."
The third line, "narinikeri," means "they have come to," with "ni" marking completion and "keri" a sigh of realization. The poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "waga matsu aki zo," means "the autumn I await," with "zo" as an emphatic particle.
The last line, "chikaku narurashi," means "must be drawing near," with "rashi" expressing an inference from evidence. From the pinks about to scatter he infers autumn's approach. "Aki chikami" in 208 of this book also sings of autumn drawing near.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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Nadeshiko wa izure tomo naku nioedomo okurete saku wa aware narikeri
- Next Poem
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Yoi nagara hiru ni mo aranan natsu nareba machikurasu ma no hodo nakaru beku