Umegae ni furitsumu yuki wa uguisu no hakaze ni chiru mo hana ka to zo miru - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

梅が枝に降り積む雪は鶯の
羽風に散るも花かとぞ見る

Roma-ji: Umegae ni furitsumu yuki wa uguisu no hakaze ni chiru mo hana ka to zo miru
English Translation: The snow piled up
on the branches of the plum,
scattered by the wings
of the warbler as it flies,
seems to me plum blossoms falling
Meaning: The snow piled on the plum branches, as it scatters in the wind of the warbler's wings, looks to me like falling plum blossoms.
Commentary: Book One Spring Poems I 17

Headnote: "Composed when snow had fallen on a plum tree and a warbler sang there"
Seeing snow piled on a plum tree and a warbler come to sing there, the poet composed this poem: the snow on the branches, scattered by the wind of the warbler's wings, could be mistaken for falling plum petals. Using the technique, established since the Kokin Wakashū, of seeing snow as blossoms, it gathers plum, snow and warbler, emblems of early spring, into one poem.
The author, "Master of the Western Capital Akisuke," is Fujiwara no Akisuke, son of Fujiwara no Akisue, Master of the Office of Palace Repairs. He carried on the poetic tradition of the Rokujō Fujiwara house and compiled the Shika Wakashū at the command of Retired Emperor Sutoku. He was the father of Fujiwara no Kiyosuke.

First line, "umegae ni": the same first line as the preceding poem, 16.
Second line, "furitsumu yuki wa": presents the snow piled on the plum branches as the subject.
Third line, "uguisu no": modifies "hakaze" in the fourth line.
Fourth line, "hakaze ni chiru mo": "hakaze" is the wind of a bird's beating wings. "Mo" adds "the scattering too."
Fifth line, "hana ka to zo miru": "zo" closes with the attributive "miru." Snow is seen as blossoms, the reverse of 21 in this book, whose "yuki ka to zo miru" sees plum blossoms as snow.
Author: Fujiwara no Akisuke
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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