Kurehatenu kaesa wa okure yamazakura ta ga tame ni kite madou to ka shiru - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

暮れ果てぬ帰さは送れ山桜
誰がために来て惑ふとか知る

Roma-ji: Kurehatenu kaesa wa okure yamazakura ta ga tame ni kite madou to ka shiru
English Translation: Night has fallen now:
see me home on my way back,
O mountain cherries!
for whose sake did I come
to lose my way, do you know?
Meaning: Night has fallen completely; see me home, O mountain cherries. Do you know for whose sake I came all this way and lost my path?
Commentary: Book One Spring Poems I 61

Headnote: "Composed on the theme "seeking blossoms, day grows dark""
Composed on the theme "seeking blossoms, day grows dark," this poem tells how, while going into the mountains in search of cherries, the poet found night had fallen. He calls on the cherries to at least see him home: do they know for whose sake he came all this way and lost his road? Personifying the blossoms and voicing a playful complaint, the poem lets his fondness for them show through.
The author, "Minamoto no Toshiyori Ason," is Minamoto no Toshiyori, son of Major Counselor Minamoto no Tsunenobu. A leading figure in the poetry circle of Emperor Horikawa, he compiled the Kin'yō Wakashū at the command of Retired Emperor Shirakawa. Fujiwara no Shunzei, compiler of the Senzai Wakashū, deeply revered him, and more of his poems are included in this anthology than those of any other poet.

First line, "kurehatenu": "nu" is the final form of the completive auxiliary, "it has grown fully dark," and the poem pauses after the first line.
Second line, "kaesa wa okure": "kaesa" is the way home, and "okure" is imperative, "see me off." In 47 of this book the poet wished not to hurry "kaerusa" so as to view the flowers, while here he entrusts his homeward road at dusk to the flowers.
Third line, "yamazakura": an address to the mountain cherries.
Fourth line, "ta ga tame ni kite": "for whose sake did I come," hinting that it was for none other than the cherries.
Fifth line, "madou to ka shiru": "madou" means to lose one's way, and the interrogative "ka" closes with the attributive "shiru." The next poem, 62, takes up the word "madou" for a heart that wanders because of the blossoms.
Author: Minamoto no Toshiyori
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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