Oshimarenu mi dani mo yo ni wa aru mono o ana ayaniku no hana no kokoro ya

惜しまれぬ身だにも世にはあるものを
あなあやにくの花の心や

Roma-ji: Oshimarenu mi dani mo yo ni wa aru mono o ana ayaniku no hana no kokoro ya
English Translation: Even one like me,
whom no one would ever mourn,
lingers in this world,
yet how perverse, alas, it is,
the heart of the cherry blooms!
Meaning: Even someone like me, whom no one would miss, lingers on in this world, and yet, alas, how perverse is the heart of the blossoms!
Commentary: Spring Poems 116

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When composing many poems on falling blossoms"
Even someone like the poet, whom no one would miss, lingers on in this world, yet the blossoms, so dearly cherished by all, fall at once. Alas, how contrary is the heart of the flowers, he laments.
Contrasting himself, whom no one regrets, with the blossoms, which scatter amid regrets, the poet voices the irony of a world that will not go as one wishes by reproaching the flowers. Within his words of self-deprecation shines the strength of his grief for the blossoms.

First line, “oshimarenu”: not regretted by anyone.
Second line, “mi dani mo yo ni wa”: dani means even, naming the poet's own insignificant self as the lesser case.
Third line, “aru mono o”: lingers on, and yet, continuing adversatively, with a break after the third line.
Fourth line, “ana ayaniku no”: alas, how perverse; ana is an exclamation.
Fifth line, “hana no kokoro ya”: ya is exclamatory, closing with a lament over the heart of blossoms that fall though cherished.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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