君来ずは誰に見せまし我が宿の
垣根に咲ける朝顔の花
垣根に咲ける朝顔の花
- Roma-ji
-
Kimi kozu wa tare ni misemashi waga yado no kakine ni sakeru asagao no hana
- English Translation
-
Had you never come,
to whom then would I have shown
by my dwelling here,
blooming all along the hedge,
the flowers of morning glory?
- Meaning
- Had you not come, to whom would I have shown the morning glories blooming on the hedge of my house?
- Commentary
-
Book Three Autumn Poems 155
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Had you not come, the poet asks, to whom could I have shown the morning glories blooming on the hedge of my house? The poem rejoices in a visit, expressing the happiness of having someone with whom to share the fleeting beauty of the morning glory.
First line, "kimi kozu wa," means "had you not come."
Second line, "tare ni misemashi," means "to whom would I have shown them," with "mashi" as a contrary-to-fact auxiliary. The poem pauses here. The same "tare ni misemashi" appears in 132 of Book Two; that poem laments losing anyone to show the flowers to, while this one rejoices in having someone, forming a reversed pairing.
Third line, "waga yado no," means "of my house."
Fourth line, "kakine ni sakeru," means "blooming on the hedge," with "ru," the attributive of the continuative auxiliary "ri."
Final line, "asagao no hana," ends on a noun, closing with the morning glory, which blooms in the morning and wilts by midday. After the Tanabata sequence, poems on autumn flowers follow from here.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
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