花見ればそのいはれとはなけれども
心のうちぞ苦しかりける
心のうちぞ苦しかりける
- Roma-ji
-
Hana mireba sono iware to wa nakeredomo kokoro no uchi zo kurushikarikeru
- English Translation
-
When I see the flowers,
though there is no reason why,
none that I can name,
deep within my heart I find
there is nothing but distress.
- Meaning
- Whenever I look at the blossoms, though there is no reason I can give, my heart is filled with pain.
- Commentary
-
Spring Poems 68
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When composing many poems on cherry blossoms"
Whenever the poet looks at the blossoms, his heart grows painful, though for no reason he can name. The poem frankly expresses the inexplicable ache that rises when one stands before beauty.
One senses that being captivated by the blossoms is at the same time the pain of knowing they will fall. Following the two preceding poems on a heart lured from the body by the flowers, this poem looks inward at the heart that gazes upon them.
First line, “hana mireba”: when I see the cherry blossoms.
Second line, “sono iware to wa”: as for the reason for it.
Third line, “nakeredomo”: though there is none, continuing adversatively.
Fourth line, “kokoro no uchi zo”: the emphatic zo forms a kakari-musubi with the attributive keru in the fifth line.
Fifth line, “kurushikarikeru”: how painful it is, the kakari-musubi strongly conveying a pain whose cause is unknown.
- Author
- Saigyō
- Source
- Sankashu
- Prev Poem
-
Akugaruru kokoro wa satemo yamazakura chirinan nochi ya mi ni kaeru beki
- Next Poem
-
Shirakawa no kozue o mite zo nagusamuru Yoshino no yama ni kayou kokoro o