Ada ni chiru sa koso kozue no hana narame sukoshi wa nokose haru no yamakaze

あだに散るさこそ梢の花ならめ
少しは残せ春の山風

Roma-ji: Ada ni chiru sa koso kozue no hana narame sukoshi wa nokose haru no yamakaze
English Translation: Falling fleetingly,
that is just the way, I know,
of blossoms on the boughs:
yet leave a few of them, at least,
O mountain wind of spring.
Meaning: To fall so fleetingly is, I know, the way of blossoms on the boughs; still, leave a few at least, O mountain wind of spring.
Commentary: Spring Poems 130

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When composing many poems on falling blossoms"
The poet knows that falling so fleetingly is the very nature of blossoms on the treetops; even so, he begs the spring mountain wind to leave at least a few unscattered.
Acknowledging falling as the flowers' fate, he still wishes for a small remnant. Using the same concessive sa koso as in the preceding poem, the two poems in a row portray a heart that accepts and yet grieves.

First line, “ada ni chiru”: falling fleetingly.
Second line, “sa koso kozue no”: the emphatic koso forms a kakari-musubi with me in the third line, the same sa koso as in the preceding poem's fourth line.
Third line, “hana narame”: such must be the blossoms, with a break after the third line.
Fourth line, “sukoshi wa nokose”: leave a few, an imperative.
Fifth line, “haru no yamakaze”: closing on a noun of address to the mountain wind that scatters the blossoms.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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