Ume mo mina haru chikashi tote saku mono o matsu toki mo naki ware ya nani naru - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

梅もみな春近しとて咲くものを
待つ時もなき我や何なる

Roma-ji: Ume mo mina haru chikashi tote saku mono o matsu toki mo naki ware ya nani naru
English Translation: All the plum trees, too,
bloom because they say that spring
is near at hand, and yet
I, who have no time to wait for,
what then could I be?
Meaning: All the plum trees bloom because spring, they say, is near; what, then, am I, who have no season to wait for?
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Autumn Poems 1157

Headnote: "Reply"
The poet says that all the plum trees bloom because spring is near, and asks what he can be, with no season of his own to wait for. Replying to the preceding poem, 1156, in which Mimune no Motonatsu wrote that spring's neighbor was near, he compares the plum, which blooms awaiting spring, with himself, who cannot even await a spring of good fortune, and answers with a lament for his lack of advancement. Like 1155 in this book, it is one of Tsurayuki's laments for himself at the year's end.
The author, written as "Tsurayuki," is Ki no Tsurayuki, the leading compiler of the Kokinshū, who wrote its kana preface and the Tosa Diary. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "ume mo mina," means "all the plum trees too," taking up the first line of the preceding poem, 1156, "ume no hana."
Second line, "haru chikashi tote," means "saying spring is near," taking up the final line of the preceding poem, "chikaki narikeri."
Third line, "saku mono o," means "bloom, and yet," with "mono o" expressing concession.
Fourth line, "matsu toki mo naki," means "having no time to wait for," meaning he has no hope of a spring of good fortune.
Final line, "ware ya nani naru," means "what then am I," with "ya" a questioning binding particle resolved by "naru," the attributive form of the copula "nari."
Author: Ki no Tsurayuki
Source: Shui Wakashu
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