み山木の二葉三葉にもゆるまで
消えせぬ雪と見えもするかな
消えせぬ雪と見えもするかな
- Roma-ji
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Miyamagi no futaba mitsuba ni moyuru made kiesenu yuki to mie mo suru kana
- English Translation
-
Till the deep-hill trees
sprout their second and third leaves,
burning into green,
they look to me like snow
that never melts away.
- Meaning
- Until the trees deep in the mountains sprout their second and third leaves, as if burning green, the mountain cherries look like snow that never melts.
- Commentary
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Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Spring Poems 1051
Headnote: "On seeing mountain cherries"
The poet says that the mountain cherries look like snow that does not melt even as the deep-mountain trees bud forth their second and third leaves. The headnote shows it was composed on seeing mountain cherries. Likening their white blossoms to snow that does not vanish, and pivoting on "moyu," to "sprout" and to "burn," it impresses the whiteness of the blossoms through the surprising pairing of snow that does not vanish even when burning. From here to 1053, poems on the mountain cherry continue.
The author, written as "Taira no Kimusane," is Taira no Kinzane, a poet of the mid-Heian period of whom little is known.
First line, "miyamagi no," means "of the deep-mountain trees," with "mi" a prefix. It shares "miyama" with the fourth line of the next poem, 1052, "miyamazakura wa."
Second line, "futaba mitsuba ni," means "into two leaves, three leaves," describing trees budding with young leaves.
Third line, "moyuru made," means "until they sprout," with "moyu" a pivot word on buds "sprouting" and fire "burning."
Fourth line, "kiesenu yuki to," means "as snow that does not melt," pairing "kie," vanishing, with "moyu," burning, in the third line.
Final line, "mie mo suru kana," means "they seem to be," with "kana" exclamatory.
- Author
- Taira no Kinzane
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
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