Hana to miba sasuga nasake o kakemashi o kumo tote kaze no harau naru beshi

花と見ばさすがなさけをかけましを
雲とて風の払ふなるべし

Roma-ji: Hana to miba sasuga nasake o kakemashi o kumo tote kaze no harau naru beshi
English Translation: If it saw the blooms,
surely it would show some grace,
so I'd think, and yet
taking them for clouds, the wind
must be sweeping them away.
Meaning: Had it seen them as blossoms, the wind would surely have shown some mercy. It must be sweeping them away, taking them for clouds.
Commentary: Spring Poems 133

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When composing many poems on falling blossoms"
The poet imagines that the wind scatters the blossoms because it mistakes them for clouds and sweeps them away; had it known they were flowers, even the wind would have shown mercy.
Turning the traditional conceit of cherries as clouds on its head, the poet wittily blames that very likeness for the wind's mistake. Following the preceding poem's white clouds so like cherries, the confusion of clouds and blossoms is here seen from the wind's side.

First line, “hana to miba”: if it had seen them as blossoms, a supposition contrary to fact.
Second line, “sasuga nasake o”: surely, some mercy.
Third line, “kakemashi o”: mashi is counterfactual, it would have shown it, expressing regret, with a break after the third line.
Fourth line, “kumo tote kaze no”: the wind, taking them for clouds.
Fifth line, “harau naru beshi”: it must be sweeping them away, closing with conjectural beshi on the wind's mistake.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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