Asagao o nani hakanashi to omoiken hito o mo hana wa sa koso mirurame - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

朝顔を何はかなしと思ひけん
人をも花はさこそ見るらめ

Roma-ji: Asagao o nani hakanashi to omoiken hito o mo hana wa sa koso mirurame
English Translation: The morning glory,
why did I ever think
that it was fleeting?
The flower too, no doubt,
sees us people just the same.
Meaning: Why did I ever think the morning glory fleeting? The flower, too, surely sees us people in just the same way.
Commentary: Book Twenty Lament Poems 1283

Headnote: "On sending morning glories to someone"
The poet asks why he ever thought the morning glory fleeting, when the flower surely sees people the same way. The headnote shows it was composed when he sent morning glories to someone. People take the morning glory, which blooms in the morning and wilts by noon, as the very image of transience, yet human life is just as fleeting, and reversing the viewer and the viewed, he sings of impermanence. It is a famous poem, all the more so because the poet himself died young.
The author, Fujiwara no Michinobu, was a son of Fujiwara no Tamemitsu and was adopted by Fujiwara no Kaneie. He excelled at poetry but died in Shōryaku 5 (994) at the age of twenty-three. He is one of the Thirty-Six Later Immortal Poets and is known for his poem "akenureba" in the Hyakunin Isshu.

First line, "asagao o," means "the morning glory," which blooms in the morning and wilts by noon.
Second line, "nani hakanashi to," means "why as fleeting."
Third line, "omoiken," means "did I think," with "ken" an auxiliary conjecturing a past cause. The poem breaks after this third line.
Fourth line, "hito o mo hana wa," means "the flower, people too," exchanging viewer and viewed with the first line, "asagao o."
Final line, "sa koso mirurame," means "surely sees them so," with the binding particle "koso" resolved by "rame," the perfective form of the auxiliary of present conjecture "ramu."
Author: Fujiwara no Michinobu
Source: Shui Wakashu
Prev Poem: Koko ni dani tsurezure ni naku hototogisu mashite Kogoi no mori wa ika ni zo
Next Poem: Toki narade hahaso no momiji chirinikeri ika ni ko no moto sabishikaruran