Hana sakanu tani no soko ni mo sumanaku ni fukaku mo mono o omou haru kana - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

花咲かぬ谷の底にも住まなくに
深くも物を思ふ春かな

Roma-ji: Hana sakanu tani no soko ni mo sumanaku ni fukaku mo mono o omou haru kana
English Translation: Though I do not dwell
at the bottom of a valley
where no flowers bloom,
how deeply sunk in brooding
I pass the days of this spring
Meaning: Though I do not dwell at the bottom of a valley where no flowers bloom, how deeply I am lost in brooding this spring.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1060

Headnote: "Composed at a time when I had cause for grief"
This poem was composed at a time when she had cause for grief. Though I do not live at the bottom of a valley where no flowers bloom, how deeply I brood this spring, she says. In the very midst of spring with its flowers in full bloom, her heart is sunk as if at the bottom of a valley the sun never reaches. Laying the depth of the valley over the depth of her brooding, she heightens her sorrow by its distance from the brightness of spring.
The author, "Izumi Shikibu," was a daughter of Ōe no Masamune, governor of Echizen. She is called by this name because she became the wife of Tachibana no Michisada, governor of Izumi. She served Jōtōmon'in Shōshi and is known for passionate love poems.
The idea of a valley without sunlight as a place spring never reaches recalls Kiyohara no Fukayabu's poem in the second book of miscellaneous poems of the Kokin Wakashū, "hikari naki tani ni wa haru mo yoso nareba sakite toku chiru monoomoi mo nashi." Where Fukayabu says the valley knows no brooding, this poem sings of how deeply one broods who does not live in such a valley.

First line, "hana sakanu": "where no flowers bloom even in spring," describing a valley the sunlight does not reach.
Second line, "tani no soko ni mo": "even at the bottom of a deep valley." It shares "tani," valley, with "tani no to o" in the first line of the next poem, 1061.
Third line, "sumanaku ni": "naku ni," the old noun form "naku" of the negative "zu" with "ni," means "though I do not dwell."
Fourth line, "fukaku mo mono o": "so deeply, my brooding," overlapping the depth of the valley in the second line with the depth of her thoughts.
Fifth line, "omou haru kana": "kana" is an exclamatory final particle.
Author: Izumi Shikibu
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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