Sakurabana uki mi ni kauru tameshi araba ikite chiru o ba oshimazaramashi - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

桜花憂き身にかふるためしあらば
生きて散るをば惜しまざらまし

Roma-ji: Sakurabana uki mi ni kauru tameshi araba ikite chiru o ba oshimazaramashi
English Translation: Cherry blossoms,
were there but a precedent
for trading this sad self,
I would not grieve to live on
and watch you fall away
Meaning: Cherry blossoms, if there were a precedent for giving this wretched self in exchange for you, I would not have to grieve so as I live on and watch you fall.
Commentary: Book Two Spring Poems II 92

Headnote: "Composed at the house of the Koga Palace Minister on the topic 'Mourning Blossoms in Place of Oneself'"
Composed at the house of the poet's father, the Koga Palace Minister Minamoto no Masamichi, on the topic "Mourning Blossoms in Place of Oneself." If only there were a precedent for giving his wretched self in exchange for the cherry blossoms, he could take their place and keep them from falling, and would not have to grieve so as he lives on and watches them scatter. Within the exaggeration of offering his life to keep the blossoms is a lament for their inevitable falling.
The author, "Provisional Middle Counselor Michichika," is Minamoto no Michichika, son of the Koga Palace Minister Minamoto no Masamichi, who later rose to Palace Minister. As a maternal relative of Emperor Go-Toba he wielded great power at court, and he was also active as a poet.

First line, "sakurabana": names the subject and also has the sense of an address to the blossoms.
Second line, "uki mi ni kauru": "uki mi" is a self full of sorrows, and "kauru" means to exchange. This line expresses "in place of oneself" in the headnote's topic. "Mi ni kau bakari" in 95 of this book also wishes to exchange oneself for the blossoms.
Third line, "tameshi araba": "tameshi" is a precedent, set in a hypothetical condition, "if there were one."
Fourth line, "ikite chiru o ba": "that I live on while they fall," setting the self that survives against the blossoms that scatter.
Fifth line, "oshimazaramashi": "mashi" is the counterfactual auxiliary, answering "araba" in the third line. Because no such precedent exists, he cannot help grieving the falling blossoms.
Author: Minamoto no Michichika
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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