Hana chirade tsuki wa kumoranu yo nariseba mono o omowanu waga mi naramashi

花散らで月は曇らぬ世なりせば
物を思はぬ我が身ならまし

Roma-ji: Hana chirade tsuki wa kumoranu yo nariseba mono o omowanu waga mi naramashi
English Translation: If the flowers stayed,
and the moon would never cloud,
if the world were so,
then I'd be a man who'd know
none of all these brooding cares.
Meaning: If this were a world where blossoms never fell and the moon never clouded over, I would be one who knew nothing of these troubled thoughts.
Commentary: Spring Poems 72

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When composing many poems on cherry blossoms"
If this were a world in which blossoms did not fall and the moon did not cloud over, the poet says, he would not be troubled by such brooding. He laments that the way of the world, where flowers scatter and the moon is veiled, is the source of his endless cares.
Continuing the pairing of blossoms and moon from the preceding poem, this one turns from the wish to enjoy them fully to the brooding that comes because they cannot be held. Across the two poems emerges the figure of Saigyō, whose heart is given to blossoms and moon.

First line, “hana chirade”: the blossoms not scattering.
Second line, “tsuki wa kumoranu”: the moon not clouding, paired with the first line.
Third line, “yo nariseba”: if it were such a world, a supposition contrary to fact.
Fourth line, “mono o omowanu”: free from troubled thoughts.
Fifth line, “waga mi naramashi”: mashi is counterfactual, answering seba in the third line, closing with the lament that it might have been so.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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