Katsu mitsutsu chitose no haru o sugusu tomo itsu ka wa hana no iro ni aku beki - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

かつ見つつ千年の春を過ぐすとも
いつかは花の色に飽くべき

Roma-ji: Katsu mitsutsu chitose no haru o sugusu tomo itsu ka wa hana no iro ni aku beki
English Translation: Gazing all the while,
though I pass a thousand springs
one after the next,
when could I ever weary
of the color of the blossoms?
Meaning: Even if I spent a thousand springs gazing at them all the while, when could I ever tire of the color of the blossoms?
Commentary: Book Five Celebration Poems 287

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Even if one spent a thousand springs gazing at the blossoms, the poet says, one would never tire of their color. Overlaying an inexhaustible love of flowers with a thousand years of life, the poem expresses a spirit of celebration.

First line, "katsu mitsutsu," means "gazing all the while," with "tsutsu" expressing continuation.
Second line, "chitose no haru o," means "a thousand springs," taking up "chitose no haru o koso heme" in the fourth and final lines of the preceding poem.
Third line, "sugusu tomo," means "even if I pass," with "tomo" expressing a concessive supposition.
Fourth line, "itsu ka wa hana no," means "when, of the blossoms," with "ka" a rhetorical questioning particle.
Final line, "iro ni aku beki," means "could I tire of the color," a rhetorical question with "ka" resolved by the attributive "beki." Like "I would not tire though I gazed a thousand years" in 279 of this book, it sings of blossoms one never wearies of even after a thousand years.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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