Umegaka ni koe utsuri seba uguisu no naku hitoeda wa oramashi mono o - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

梅が香に声移りせば鶯の
鳴く一枝は折らましものを

Roma-ji: Umegaka ni koe utsuri seba uguisu no naku hitoeda wa oramashi mono o
English Translation: If into the scent
of plum the song could pass,
that single branch
where the warbler sings
I would break and keep
Meaning: If the warbler's song could pass into the scent of the plum, I would break off the single branch on which it sings.
Commentary: Book One Spring Poems I 27

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The scent of plum clings to sleeves and lingers, but the warbler's song cannot be carried away. If only the song too could pass into the scent, says the poet, he would break off the branch where the warbler sings and keep it. By positing an impossible wish, he expresses his love for the warbler singing in the plum.
The author, "Minister of the Right," is Tokudaiji Sanesada, son of Minister of the Right Fujiwara no Kinyoshi. He held the post of Minister of the Right when the Senzai Wakashū was compiled and later became Minister of the Left. He was known as the Later Tokudaiji Minister of the Left.

First line, "umegaka ni": "into the scent of plum."
Second line, "koe utsuri seba": "se" is the irrealis of the past auxiliary "ki," and with "ba" it forms a counterfactual condition. Following 25, two poems earlier, in which the wind took on plum scent, it imagines song passing into scent.
Third line, "uguisu no": the subject of "naku" in the fourth line.
Fourth line, "naku hitoeda wa": the single branch on which the warbler sings.
Fifth line, "oramashi mono o": "mashi" is the counterfactual auxiliary answering "seba," and "mono o" conveys regret at what cannot be done. It pairs with the next poem, 28, in which "even the voice is fragrant."
Author: Tokudaiji Sanesada
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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