Akanaku ni chirinuru hana no omokage ya kaze ni shirarenu sakura naruran - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

飽かなくに散りぬる花の面影や
風に知られぬ桜なるらん

Roma-ji: Akanaku ni chirinuru hana no omokage ya kaze ni shirarenu sakura naruran
English Translation: Though I've not had my fill,
the image of the blossoms
that have fallen now,
is it a cherry tree
that the wind will never find?
Meaning: Is the lingering image of the blossoms that fell before I had my fill of them a cherry tree the wind will never come to know?
Commentary: Book Two Spring Poems II 96

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed as a poem on blossoms"
Like the preceding poem, this was composed on the topic of "blossoms." The poet asks whether the image of blossoms that fell before he had his fill of them, lingering in his mind, might be a cherry tree that the wind cannot find and scatter. The idea that real blossoms are scattered by the wind while the remembered ones do not fall expresses a wish to keep lost flowers alive in memory.
The author, "Priest Gasei," is Kakusei; other texts give "Priest Kakusei," and "Gasei" in this text is thought to be a copying error. Little is known of his life.

First line, "akanaku ni": "though I have not had my fill," the same opening line as 91 of this book, expressing feeling for blossoms that fall before one has seen enough.
Second line, "chirinuru hana no": "nuru" is the attributive of the perfective "nu": "of the blossoms that have fallen."
Third line, "omokage ya": "omokage" is an image that rises in the mind of something no longer before one's eyes. The interrogative "ya" links with "ran" in the last line.
Fourth line, "kaze ni shirarenu": "re" is the passive auxiliary and "nu" the negative: "unknown to the wind." If the wind does not find them, they will not be scattered.
Fifth line, "sakura naruran": "ran" is the attributive of present conjecture, closing with "ya." The poet surmises that the blossoms of memory are the cherries that never fall.
Author: Kakusei
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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