霜枯れの枝となわびそ白雪の
消えぬ限りは花とこそ見れ
消えぬ限りは花とこそ見れ
- Roma-ji
-
Shimogare no eda to na wabi so shirayuki no kienu kagiri wa hana to koso mire
- English Translation
-
Do not grieve
that your branches are frost-withered:
so long as the white snow
has not melted away
I take it to be blossoms
- Meaning
- Do not grieve that yours are branches withered by frost: so long as the white snow does not melt, I see it as blossoms.
- Commentary
-
Book Eight Winter Poems 476
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet tells the branches not to grieve at being withered by frost, for so long as the white snow does not melt, it is seen as blossoms. Addressing the branches of a frost-withered tree, the poem consoles them by taking the snow on them for flowers.
Like the preceding poem, it closes with "hana to koso mire." Where the preceding poem sang of snow on the evergreen pine, this poem sings of snow on frost-withered branches, so that the tree whose color never changes and the withered tree stand as a pair.
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, "Shimogare no," means "withered by frost."
In the second line, "na ... so" expresses prohibition: "do not grieve that you are such branches." The poem pauses here.
The third line, "shirayuki no," means "the white snow."
The fourth line, "kienu kagiri wa," means "so long as it does not melt."
The last line, "hana to koso mire," means "I see it as blossoms," the particle "koso" and the perfective "mire" forming a kakarimusubi pattern. It is the same line that closes the preceding poem.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Toshi furedo iro mo kawaranu matsugae ni kakareru yuki o hana to koso mire
- Next Poem
-
Kōri koso ima wa surashi mo Miyoshino no yama no takitsuse koe mo kikoezu