Haruharu no kazu wa wasurezu ari nagara hana sakanu ki o nani ni ueken - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

春々の数は忘れずありながら
花咲かぬ木を何に植ゑけん

Roma-ji: Haruharu no kazu wa wasurezu ari nagara hana sakanu ki o nani ni ueken
English Translation: Spring after spring
I keep the count, forgetting none,
and yet, for all that,
a tree that never blossoms—
why was it ever planted
Meaning: Spring after spring I have never lost count of the years, and yet, why was a tree that never blossoms ever planted at all?
Commentary: Book Fifteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1078

Headnote: "Reply."
The poet says that he has never lost count of the springs, yet wonders why a tree that never blossoms was planted at all. Taking up the image of the flowerless tree in the preceding poem, he mocks himself, grown old without an office, as a tree not worth the planting.
It is Tomonori's reply to the question of Fujiwara no Tokihira in the preceding poem.
The poet, "Tomonori," is Ki no Tomonori. A cousin of Ki no Tsurayuki, he was one of the compilers of the Kokinshu but died before its completion. He later became a Senior Secretary in the Ministry of Central Affairs. The Ogura Hyakunin Isshu includes his poem "Hisakata no hikari nodokeki haru no hi ni."

The first line, "Haruharu no," means "of spring after spring," piling up the springs that come each year.
The second line, "kazu wa wasurezu," means "never forgetting their number," putting his growing older each spring as never forgetting the count. It answers "forty years and more" in the preceding poem.
The third line, "ari nagara," means "and yet," with "nagara" adversative.
The fourth line, "hana sakanu ki o," means "a tree that does not blossom," taking up "hana no sakazu shite" of the preceding poem directly as a figure for himself.
The last line, "nani ni ueken," means "why was it ever planted," with "ken" conjecture about the past. He mocks himself as a tree that was not worth planting.
Author: Ki no Tomonori
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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