Ikade ka wa chirade are tomo omou beki shibashi to shitau nageki shire hana

いかでかは散らであれとも思ふべき
しばしと慕ふ嘆き知れ花

Roma-ji: Ikade ka wa chirade are tomo omou beki shibashi to shitau nageki shire hana
English Translation: How could I ever
go so far as to wish you
would not fall at all?
Just a while, I plead, so know
this sorrow of mine, O flowers.
Meaning: How could I ever wish that you would never fall? But know this grief of mine that pleads for just a little while, O blossoms.
Commentary: Spring Poems 123

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When composing many poems on falling blossoms"
The poet cannot hope that the blossoms will never fall. He only asks them to understand the grief of one who pleads for them to stay just a little longer.
Accepting falling as the blossoms' fate, he still wishes for a brief reprieve, revealing a modest yet earnest heart.

First line, “ikade ka wa”: how could I, rhetorical, forming a kakari-musubi with beki in the third line.
Second line, “chirade are tomo”: that you remain without falling.
Third line, “omou beki”: could I think so, the rhetorical question showing he cannot ask that much, with a break after the third line.
Fourth line, “shibashi to shitau”: longing for them to stay just a while.
Fifth line, “nageki shire hana”: know this grief, O blossoms, closing with an imperative and an address.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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