Kozue fuku kaze no kokoro wa ikaga sen shitagau hana no urameshiki kana

梢吹く風の心はいかがせん
従ふ花の恨めしきかな

Roma-ji: Kozue fuku kaze no kokoro wa ikaga sen shitagau hana no urameshiki kana
English Translation: As for the wind's heart,
blowing through the topmost boughs,
what is there to do?
Yet the blossoms, so compliant,
how resentful they make me!
Meaning: Nothing can be done about the heart of the wind blowing through the treetops; it is the blossoms, so meekly obeying it, that I resent.
Commentary: Spring Poems 122

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When composing many poems on falling blossoms"
Nothing can be done about the wind that blows through the treetops, the poet says, but the blossoms that so obediently fall at its bidding are what he resents.
The ingenuity lies in the unexpected view of resenting not the wind, as one usually would, but the flowers that do not resist it. Where the preceding poem praised the blossoms' heart as wise for falling without regret, this one calls the same compliance resentful, setting side by side contradictory feelings toward the flowers.

First line, “kozue fuku”: blowing through the treetops.
Second line, “kaze no kokoro wa”: the heart of the wind that would scatter the blossoms.
Third line, “ikaga sen”: what can be done, with a break after the third line.
Fourth line, “shitagau hana no”: of the blossoms that obey and fall.
Fifth line, “urameshiki kana”: how resentful, closing with the exclamatory kana.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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