花と見し人はほどなく散りにけり
我が身も風を待つと知らなん
我が身も風を待つと知らなん
- Roma-ji
-
Hana to mishi hito wa hodo naku chirinikeri waga mi mo kaze o matsu to shiranan
- English Translation
-
The one I saw
as a flower in full bloom
has scattered all too soon:
know that I as well am waiting
for the wind to come for me
- Meaning
- The one I saw as a flower scattered all too soon. Know that I too am only waiting for the wind.
- Commentary
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Book Nine Poems of Lament 570
Headnote: "Sent to his house after Intendant of the Right Gate Guards Motodada passed away"
Sent to the house of Intendant of the Right Gate Guards Fujiwara no Motodada after his death. The one I saw as a flower has scattered so soon, the poet says; know that I too am waiting for the wind. Lamenting the untimely death of one he thought of as a flower in its prime, he says that he too awaits the wind that will scatter him, that is, a death not far off, and so shares the family's grief.
The author, "Former Middle Counselor Masafusa," was the son of Ōe no Narihira. Renowned as a scholar, he served as Provisional Middle Counselor and Provisional Governor-General of Dazaifu. He has a poem in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
First line, "hana to mishi": "whom I saw as a flower," a person in the prime of life. The opening poem, 545, also overlays the dead with scattered flowers.
Second line, "hito wa hodo naku": "hodo naku" means "soon," an untimely death.
Third line, "chirinikeri": "ni" is the continuative of the perfective "nu" and "keri" exclamatory, "has scattered." Through the image of the flower, death is called "scattering." The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "waga mi mo kaze o": the "wind" scatters the flowers and stands for what brings death.
Fifth line, "matsu to shiranan": "nan" is a particle of wish directed at another, "please know that I am waiting."
- Author
- Oe no Masafusa
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
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Morotomo ni haru no hana o ba mishi mono o hito ni okururu aki zo kanashiki
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Kawaku ma mo naki sumizome no tamoto kana kuchinaba nani o katami ni mo sen