Sakeba chiru sakaneba koishi yamazakura omoi taesenu hana no ue kana - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

咲けば散る咲かねば恋し山桜
思ひ絶えせぬ花の上かな

Roma-ji: Sakeba chiru sakaneba koishi yamazakura omoi taesenu hana no ue kana
English Translation: If they bloom, they fall;
if they don't, I long for them,
mountain cherry trees,
never free of yearning thoughts
is the lot of these flowers.
Meaning: If they bloom, they scatter; if they do not, I long for them. Mountain cherries, how endless are the thoughts your flowers bring!
Commentary: Book One Spring Poems 36

Headnote: "While secluded in the Eastern Hills, at a time when I had been bereaved of my child"
The mountain cherry, if it blooms, brings worry that it will fall, and if it does not, brings longing; either way it is a flower that never lets the heart rest. According to the headnote, the poem was composed while the poet was secluded in the Eastern Hills after losing a child, and her unending thoughts for the flower can be read as overlaid with a mother's grief for her lost child.
Nakatsukasa was the daughter of Prince Atsuyoshi, son of Emperor Uda, and the poet Ise. She is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "sakeba chiru," speaks of the transience of cherries that fall as soon as they bloom.
Second line, "sakaneba koishi," forms a parallel couplet with the first line, voicing the opposite lament, longing when they do not bloom.
Third line, "yamazakura," is the word with which the cherry poems of this book truly begin, and the poem pauses after the third line.
Fourth line, "omoi taesenu," means "never free of longing," resonating with the unceasing grief of having lost a child.
Final line, "hana no ue kana," with "ue" meaning "the lot" or "the case of," and "kana" as an exclamatory particle.
Author: Nakatsukasa
Source: Shui Wakashu
Prev Poem: Hanami ni wa murete yukedomo aoyagi no ito no moto ni wa kuru hito mo nashi
Next Poem: Yoshinoyama taezu kasumi no tanabiku wa hito ni shirarenu hana ya sakuran