Morotomo ni ware shi oraneba sakurabana omoiyarite ya haru o kurasan - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

もろともに我し折らねば桜花
思ひやりてや春を暮らさん

Roma-ji: Morotomo ni ware shi oraneba sakurabana omoiyarite ya haru o kurasan
English Translation: Since I did not go
to break the boughs along with you,
the cherry blossoms
I can only think of from afar;
is that how I'll pass the spring?
Meaning: Since I did not join you in breaking off the boughs, must I spend the spring only thinking of the cherry blossoms from afar?
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Spring Poems 1040

Headnote: "When he was serving in the Palace Kitchen Office and the men of the Chamberlains' Office sent him cherry blossoms"
The poet says that because he did not go to break off blossoms with the others, he may spend the spring only imagining the cherry blossoms from afar. The headnote shows it was composed when, while he was serving in the Palace Kitchen Office, the men of the Chamberlains' Office sent him cherry blossoms. In reply to the blossoms sent, he conveys the loneliness of having been unable to join the flower viewing.
The author, Mibu no Tadami, was a son of Mibu no Tadamine and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets. He is known for his poem "koi su chō" in the Hyakunin Isshu, with which he competed against Taira no Kanemori at the Tentoku Palace Poetry Contest.

First line, "morotomo ni," means "together with you," sharing the same line with the first line of the preceding poem, 1039, "morotomo ni."
Second line, "ware shi oraneba," means "since I did not break them," with "shi" an emphatic particle, "ne" the perfective form of the negative "zu," and "ba" expressing cause.
Third line, "sakurabana," means "the cherry blossoms," the same word as the third line of the next poem, 1041.
Fourth line, "omoiyarite ya," means "only imagining them from afar," with the binding particle "ya" expressing a question resolved by "n" in the final line. It is the same line as the fourth line of the next poem, 1041.
Final line, "haru o kurasan," means "shall I pass the spring," with "n" the attributive form of the conjectural auxiliary. It is the same line as the final line of the next poem, 1041, "haru o kurasamu," and the two poems share the entire lower verse.
Author: Mibu no Tadami
Source: Shui Wakashu
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