Chirisomuru hana o misutete kaerame ya obotsukanashi to imo wa matsu tomo - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

散りそむる花を見捨てて帰らめや
おぼつかなしと妹は待つとも

Roma-ji: Chirisomuru hana o misutete kaerame ya obotsukanashi to imo wa matsu tomo
English Translation: The flowers just now
beginning to fall, could I
leave them and go home?
Though my dear one waits for me
fretting at my long delay.
Meaning: How could I abandon the flowers just as they begin to fall and go home, even though my wife waits for me, anxious at my absence?
Commentary: Book One Spring Poems 59

Headnote: "For a folding screen"
How could one abandon flowers that have begun to fall and go home, even if one's wife is waiting anxiously? So the poem sings of attachment to the blossoms. The somewhat exaggerated choice of the flowers over a waiting wife shows the strength of the heart's regret for them. According to the headnote, the poem accompanied a folding screen.
The author, written as Yoshinobu, is Ōnakatomi no Yoshinobu. From a family that served as chief priests of the Ise Shrine, he took part in compiling the Gosenshū as one of the Five Men of the Pear Chamber. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "chirisomuru," means "beginning to fall."
Second line, "hana o misutete," means abandoning the flowers and leaving them behind.
Third line, "kaerame ya," with "me ya" forming a rhetorical question, means "would I go home? No," and the poem pauses after the third line.
Fourth line, "obotsukanashi to," means "anxious and impatient."
Final line, "imo wa matsu tomo," with "tomo" for a concessive hypothesis, strengthens the resolve of the first half by inversion. Like poem 27 of this book, it pairs flowers with a wife.
Author: Onakatomi no Yoshinobu
Source: Shui Wakashu
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