Kagamiyama hikari wa hana no misekereba chiritsumite koso sabishikarikere - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

鏡山光は花の見せければ
ちりつみてこそさびしかりけれ

Roma-ji: Kagamiyama hikari wa hana no misekereba chiritsumite koso sabishikarikere
English Translation: On Mirror Mountain
it was the blossoms that showed
the mirror's bright light;
now they lie fallen like dust
and how lonely it has grown
Meaning: On Mirror Mountain it was the blossoms that made its brightness shine; now that they have fallen and piled up like dust upon a mirror, how lonely it has become.
Commentary: Book Two Spring Poems II 105

Headnote: "Composed as a spring poem when presenting a hundred-poem sequence"
Composed on "spring" for a hundred-poem sequence presented to Retired Emperor Sutoku. On Mirror Mountain, it was the blooming flowers that displayed the brightness of the mirror in its name; now that they have fallen and piled up, the mountain seems like a mirror clouded with dust, and it is lonely. Drawing light and dust from the "mirror" in the mountain's name, the poem wittily compares a mountain bereft of blossoms to a clouded mirror.
The author, "Former Consultant Chikataka," is Fujiwara no Chikataka, son of Provisional Middle Counselor Fujiwara no Tamefusa, who rose to Consultant. He was one of the poets of Retired Emperor Sutoku's Kyūan Hundred-Poem Sequence.

First line, "Kagamiyama": Mirror Mountain, a poetic place in Ōmi. From "mirror" in its name come the "light" of the third line and the "chiri" of the fourth.
Second line, "hikari wa hana no": "the mirror's light, the blossoms," likening the full blossoms that made the mountain shine to a mirror's brightness.
Third line, "misekereba": the realized condition, "because they showed it."
Fourth line, "chiritsumite koso": "chiri" is a pivot word meaning both blossoms "falling" and "dust" gathering on a mirror. The emphatic "koso" links with "kere" in the last line. "Chiritsumu hana no" in 100 of this book also depicts blossoms piling up as they fall.
Fifth line, "sabishikarikere": "kere," the realized form of "keri," closes with "koso," expressing the loneliness of a mountain that has lost its light like a clouded mirror.
Author: Fujiwara no Chikataka
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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