何とかくあだなる春の色をしも
心に深く染めはじめけん
心に深く染めはじめけん
- Roma-ji
-
Nani to kaku ada naru haru no iro o shi mo kokoro ni fukaku somehajimeken
- English Translation
-
Why, I wonder, so,
of all things the fleeting hues
of the passing spring,
did I deep within my heart
first begin to dye them in?
- Meaning
- Why, of all things, did I begin to dye my heart so deeply with the fleeting colors of spring?
- Commentary
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Spring Poems 153
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When composing fifteen poems on cherry blossoms"
The poet looks back and wonders why, of all things, he began to dye his heart so deeply with the fleeting colors of spring blossoms that scatter so soon.
Knowing them to be transient, he is puzzled at himself for giving his heart to them so deeply. The poem echoes 149, which asked when he began to be carried away by the blossoms, and likewise questions the beginning of his attachment.
First line, “nani to kaku”: why, in this way, introducing the question in the fourth and fifth lines.
Second line, “ada naru haru no”: of the fleeting spring.
Third line, “iro o shi mo”: shi mo is emphatic, that very color of all things.
Fourth line, “kokoro ni fukaku”: deeply in my heart.
Fifth line, “somehajimeken”: did I begin to dye it, closing with the past conjectural ken.
- Author
- Saigyō
- Source
- Sankashu
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