花と聞くは誰もさこそはうれしけれ
思ひしづめぬ我が心かな
思ひしづめぬ我が心かな
- Roma-ji
-
Hana to kiku wa tare mo sa koso wa ureshikere omoishizumenu waga kokoro kana
- English Translation
-
Hearing of the blooms,
everyone, I know, is glad,
that is surely so,
yet how little can I calm
the heart that beats within me.
- Meaning
- Everyone, surely, is glad to hear the blossoms have opened; yet how impossible it is to calm this heart of mine!
- Commentary
-
Spring Poems 147
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When composing fifteen poems on cherry blossoms"
Anyone would be glad to hear that the blossoms have opened, the poet says, yet his own heart simply cannot be calmed and is swept away.
Acknowledging the joy all share, he looks at a heart roused far beyond comparison with others. The strength of his longing for the flowers is brought out through this contrast.
First line, “hana to kiku wa”: hearing of the blossoms, a line with an extra syllable.
Second line, “tare mo sa koso wa”: the emphatic koso forms a kakari-musubi with kere in the third line.
Third line, “ureshikere”: is glad, but, the perfective form leading on adversatively.
Fourth line, “omoishizumenu”: unable to quiet its feelings.
Fifth line, “waga kokoro kana”: the exclamatory kana closes with wonder at his own restless heart.
- Author
- Saigyō
- Source
- Sankashu
- Prev Poem
-
Obotsukana tani wa sakura no ika naran mine ni wa imada kakenu shirakumo
- Next Poem
-
Hatsuhana no hirakehajimuru kozue yori sobaete kaze no wataru narikeri