Haru yue ni semete mo mono o omoe to ya misoka ni dani mo tarade kurenuru

春ゆゑにせめても物を思へとや
三十日にだにも足らで暮れぬる

Roma-ji: Haru yue ni semete mo mono o omoe to ya misoka ni dani mo tarade kurenuru
English Translation: For the sake of spring,
is it bidding me at least
to brood over it?
Not even the thirtieth
did it reach before it ended.
Meaning: Is spring bidding me at least to brood over its passing? For the month has ended without even reaching its thirtieth day.
Commentary: Spring Poems 171

Headnote: "Composed when the third month ended one day short"
According to the headnote, this poem was composed in a year when the third month ended one day short, on the twenty-ninth, and it begins the last three poems of the spring section. The poet wonders whether the last month of spring ending without even reaching its thirtieth day is a sign that he should at least spend it brooding over the departing season.
Seizing on a fact of the calendar, he laments that spring, already so precious, has ended a day early. The grief for spring rises toward the close of the section.

First line, “haru yue ni”: for the sake of spring.
Second line, “semete mo mono o”: at least, brooding thoughts.
Third line, “omoe to ya”: is it telling me to think them, ya expressing a question, with a break after the third line.
Fourth line, “misoka ni dani mo”: dani means even, not even to the thirtieth day.
Fifth line, “tarade kurenuru”: it has ended without reaching it, closing on the attributive form and leaving the grief over spring's swift end to linger.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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