かけてだに我が身の上と思ひきや
来む年春の花を見じとは
来む年春の花を見じとは
- Roma-ji
-
Kakete dani waga mi no ue to omoiki ya komu toshi haru no hana o miji to wa
- English Translation
-
Did you ever think,
even for a moment, it
would be your own fate—
that the blossoms of next spring
you would never come to see
- Meaning
- Did you ever think, even for a moment, that it would be your own fate never to see the blossoms of next spring?
- Commentary
-
Book Twenty Congratulatory Poems 1422
Headnote: "On hearing that Ariwara no Toshiharu had died."
Ise asks whether one ever thought, even slightly, that it would be one's own lot never to see next spring's blossoms. Hearing of the death of Ariwara no Toshiharu, she seems to lament the frailty of life, feeling that the dead man himself never imagined he would leave the world without seeing next spring's flowers.
According to the headnote, it was composed on hearing that Ariwara no Toshiharu had died. Poem 1387 of this book likewise sings of an unforeseen death with "omoiki ya" in its third line inverted with "to wa" in its last.
The poet, Ise, was a daughter of Fujiwara no Tsugukage, Governor of Ise, and served Fujiwara no Onshi, consort of Emperor Uda. She received the emperor's favor and later bore Nakatsukasa to Prince Atsuyoshi. One of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals, she is represented in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu by "Naniwagata mijikaki ashi no fushi no ma mo."
The first line, "Kakete dani," means "even in the slightest thought."
The second line, "waga mi no ue to," means "as one's own fate."
The third line, "omoiki ya," means "did one ever think? Never," with "ya" rhetorical. The poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "komu toshi haru no," means "of next year's spring," with an extra syllable.
The last line, "hana o miji to wa," means "that one would not see the blossoms," with "ji" negative conjecture, inverted with the third line.
- Author
- Ise
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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Kanashisa no nagusamu beku mo arazaritsu yume no uchi ni mo yume to miyureba
- Next Poem
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Naku koe ni soite namida wa noboranedo kumo no ue yori ame to fururan