Kakubakari ukiyo no sue ni ika ni shite haru wa sakura no nao niouran - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

かくばかり憂き世の末にいかにして
春は桜のなほ匂ふらん

Roma-ji: Kakubakari ukiyo no sue ni ika ni shite haru wa sakura no nao niouran
English Translation: At the latter end
of a world so full of sorrow,
how can it be
that in spring the cherry blossoms
glow in beauty even still?
Meaning: In these last days of a world so full of sorrow, how is it that the cherries still glow in their beauty when spring comes?
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1070

Headnote: "Left fallen beneath the blossoms, in a woman's hand, when the flowers of Shirakawa were at their height, in the spring of the year after there was talk of moving the capital"
This poem, written in a woman's hand, was found lying beneath the blossoms at Shirakawa when they were at their height, in the spring of the year after there was talk of moving the capital. In the latter days of so sorrowful a world, how is it that the cherries still glow in spring, the poet asks. Lamenting as "the latter end of a sorrowful world" the turmoil after Taira no Kiyomori moved the capital to Fukuhara in Jishō 4 (1180), the poet turns a feeling somewhere between wonder and resentment on cherries that bloom unchanged despite the disorder of human affairs. The headnote, telling of a poem left unsigned beneath the flowers, lends it an air of mystery.
The author is given as "anonymous," and the name is not known. The headnote shows that it was written in a woman's hand.
Following the preceding poem, 1069, which bears the falling of the blossoms by thinking on impermanence, this poem sings of flowers that bloom unchanged amid the impermanence of the world. It shares the first line "kakubakari" with 1119 and 1121 of this book, and with 1121 in particular it shares an opening that laments the sorrowful world, "kakubakari ukiyo no naka o."

First line, "kakubakari": "to such a degree." It is the same first line as 1119 and 1121 of this book.
Second line, "ukiyo no sue ni": "sue" means the declining last age of the world, pointing to the disorder of the times such as the moving of the capital. It shares "sue" with "chiri no sue o mo" in the fourth line of the next poem, 1071.
Third line, "ika ni shite": "how," answering "ran" in the fifth line.
Fourth line, "haru wa sakura no": "when spring comes, the cherries."
Fifth line, "nao niouran": "nao" means "even still," and "ran" is an auxiliary conjecturing a cause, "how is it that they glow?"
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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