Omokage ni iro nomi nokoru sakurabana ikuyo no haru o koimu to suran - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

面影に色のみ残る桜花
幾世の春を恋ひむとすらん

Roma-ji: Omokage ni iro nomi nokoru sakurabana ikuyo no haru o koimu to suran
English Translation: As an image left,
only their color remains,
the cherry blossoms;
through how many springs to come
must I go on longing so?
Meaning: Only their color lingers on as an image of the one who is gone, these cherry blossoms. Through how many springs to come must I go on longing like this?
Commentary: Book Twenty Lament Poems 1275

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed on the topic of seeing the blossoms at home at the height of the cherry season, in the spring of the year after losing his daughter, and putting a little of his feeling into words"
The poet says that the cherry blossoms, whose color alone lingers as an image of the dead, make him wonder through how many springs he must go on longing. Its headnote is the same as the preceding poem, 1274, and it seems to have been composed on the topic set in the spring after Saneyori lost his daughter, in the person of Saneyori. Laying the length of the years ahead over the grief that each returning spring's blossoms will renew the memory of the dead, it sings of sorrow without end.
Poems 1274 through 1277 form a sequence on the topic of the cherry blossoms in the spring after a daughter's death, Saneyori's own poem on losing his daughter being followed by poems by other poets on the same topic. The book of laments opens with cherry blossoms that call the dead to mind.
The author, Taira no Kanemori, descended from Emperor Kōkō and was given the surname Taira on leaving the imperial family. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets and is known for his poem "shinoburedo" in the Hyakunin Isshu.

First line, "omokage ni," means "as an image" of the one who is gone.
Second line, "iro nomi nokoru," means "only the color remains," with "nomi" limiting: the person is gone, yet the color of the flowers remains unchanged.
Third line, "sakurabana," means "cherry blossoms," taking up the first line of the preceding poem, 1274. The poem breaks after this third line.
Fourth line, "ikuyo no haru o," means "through how many springs," the long years still to come.
Final line, "koimu to suran," means "must I go on longing," with "mu" conjectural and "ran" the auxiliary of present conjecture.
Author: Taira no Kanemori
Source: Shui Wakashu
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